Mashua Tadashi, A Split Storm
by SketchyT
Summary: When you do something bold, like run from a village, there are always repercussions in hiding your real past... They might not bite back as quickly, and you might have a good reason for leaving, but that doesn't make it legal. or... does it? Book I.
1. Catchup

(Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, the franchise, the character, nor any parts titles and most moves ect. besides my own original characters.)

Story timeline takes place pre- Sarutobi/Orochimaru fight, two years and a few weeks before genin teams are assigned.

Mashua Tadashi… The Tadashi clan… In the eyes of many, it now looks like a group of softies for the way they were exterminated. They weren't prideful, greedy, nor potentially harmful unless messed with. There were too many unconfirmed rumors that spread about them. They're all dead… well most of them. As cliche motives go, I was one of the "Survivors" plotting my revenge toward people who I thought were the killers of my clan. My full name? I don't officially have paperwork anymore but I was once called Mashua Nasanieru Tadashi. My parents disciplined me well, though my father tended to be a little more caring than my strict mother. I never quite remembered their names though, they weren't said often enough in the household.

Anyways, I've been migrating southwest with a bounty on my head from the Raikage due to "stumbling" upon a kinjutsu scroll in the woods of Kumogakure. Thanks to my curious mind, I now reside in the foliage and the great outskirts of Konohagakure, reaping the wildlife for food and the ginormous, thick coverage of the trees. Ha, reaping... more like scrounging.

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Outrunning people was something I was almost decent at. With no note to say I came from anywhere or with any intention, I was classified as a rogue ninja. I think two individuals, whom I wanted vengeance, have my head for a price… Thankfully, an alive price, but I'm not quite sure for.

A lone youngster was in pursuit of me at some point. I never looked back for faces for he or she never got in front of me. It would take a miracle from me to take on fighting someone of much greater stature, but my speed seemed unmatched from them.

Instinct, pure instinct kept me alive for two years. I know what you're thinking, Two years? As in, two years without changing clothing nor bathing? Oh HELL NO! I often stole from markets when I got desperate, because... well… I prefer toilet paper.

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I'm quite low on my rations and what I was going to have later was dug up. My diet was mainly protein from rabbits, turtles, and the seldom fish when I felt lucky. I would have a net for those, but often I forget that the net was in the river and I end up with old, starved, and dead fish… So, I now kabab them with wooden spears individually, mostly catfish, they're easily recognizable and pretty darn BIG. One often suffices for a day's meal. Delicious, luxurious, and fattening to me.

"Hey bud." A familiar voice called for me.

To my right is an Anbu from the ex-village of mine, one person of which I know the mask and name under, Ansoni Hiro. His right arm whined in extending out to hand me a cardboard package. His arm was mechanical as his right leg also was. The mechanical arm is minutely shorter than his real arm, thanks to his current spurting state of growth.

"That's the fourth prototype I've seen on you." I called to his attachments. "Your father must be going broke!"

"Nah, he put a lockable extension joint on my 'bones' per say." he rolled his sleeve to reveal a bar with a few niches that would extend his forearm the farther the nitch. "He mainly updates it for the increased length and insulation of the wiring. The cosmetics were just a great paintjob."

"Still in pursuit of looking smexy for what's her name?" I grinned to him.

"Nah, she a hoe! I got a few in mind but nothing too serious." We both laughed at his heavily dialected remark. He never quite was for the white women, at least that's what he says, in spite nearly portraying as caucasian, like me.

I opened the package. "Toilet paper and a blade sharpener. Man, you spoil me you know?" I said, as I dug through the contents of the box.

"Well, the Raikage wouldn't be pleased to find that I gave you rations that was meant for another small-town village." he replied back. "They're a bunch of welfare slowpokes anyway."

"Welfare, sounds like bliss." I mumbled.

"Anyways, I got something special to give you soon, something you'll reeeeeeally like." His tone changed comedically.

"World domination?" I perked up.

"Even better, but you gotta stay up in this place for a bit longer, and whatever you do, DON'T let them see your face."

To his remark, I put my half mask up over my nose again. I eye smiled and he rushed off without another word. He had a small margin of time to compensate for visiting me, but he did so at the right time, every time! It's why he's the lone mailman of his country, his scouting skills are on par of finding his way across the grand corn maze of my village five years ago. To give a better image of myself, my hair was a grease slick, a black mop, pulled back most of the time in a bad ponytail. My eyes matched the water, gunmetal grey or blue as I peered to look for more fish… Bah, colors suck in thanks to me being colorblind. I don't really know my height but I was often about as tall as most girls my age, maybe a few cents of change short at times. Luckily I still had time to grow… Right?

* * *

A hand grabbed my shoulder. I turned around in panic to find that it was a fallen tree branch… from a perfectly sound… and live… tree… _So that wasn't a hand._

I instinctively rolled forward over my box and the toilet paper popped out like a zit, unraveling itself in a straight line down a slope.

The sound of an almost inaudible whistle came from my right side. I started forward and didn't look back. Well that was a lie, a black looking figure approached in front of me and I double backed. I tripped over another figure rolling in the ground, clutching its knee to hear "Naruto you idiot." as if on cue for me falling.

"Hey, I'm the one who found where he was first!" He shouted over his humiliated self-induced pain.

I had one more chance in their conflicting states and ran again. I assume the Naruto figure fell out of the tree. A girl got in my way and I jumped. Momentum carried me a full flip, but the kunai she wielded, stabbed me in the arm as I jumped over.

"Great, leave it to the weak one to cover our mistakes!" a male figure scowled.

"It wasn't a mission anyways, let's get back to training." Naruto disappointingly said.

"Whatever you dweeb, I'm not staying around you."

Jitters, butterflies, and a bit of adrenaline made me go to a safe spot for the rest of the night. By tomorrow, they probably would alert a real official to confirm that I'm no longer the next "Konoha Bigfoot" like they post on their news. And yes, I'm highly informed from the patrol units that crumble up their newsletters every other week. Bigfoot though, I'm not that tall nor hairy!

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 _Hey guys! Author's note here, Just letting ya'll know I'm new to the flim flam here. Any comments are accepted because I'd like to improve my writing skills a bit. Also, questions regarding origins or character stuff in my OCs may be answered in the next couple of chapters. If something doesn't suffice your curiosity that doesn't get answered in the story ask away (I'm almost as clueless as you guys at times) and I'm always up for some options. A steaming bowl of more chapters will come eventually, Stay Tuned!_

 _Reguards!_ * **Snaps and points to computer screen.**


	2. Intro

**Chapter 2: Intro**

* * *

"Damnit, my toilet paper!" I first thought whilst awakening.

Two embarrassingly dull kunai, some old wire, a metal coin, a puncture from a white eyed girl which tore through my favorite jacket, a week and six days to hide, and an empty stomach… _Fanfreakingtastic_. My bleeding eventually stopped but the drained blood covered my forearm. She must have poked one of my main arteries to do this, what luck...

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"The trail leads this way!" Naruto shouted from a great distance. _Speaking of luck!_

"No Naruto, my nose is telling me he's taken another route!" another obnoxious figure said.

"I saw him go this way the other day!" Naruto yelled in return.

"Oh so suddenly you can smell where he went too? Give me a break."

"Well I found him first the other day!" Naruto whined.

"Yeah? And you also lost him too." unknown snarled. I had taken cover from the voices at this point.

Moments passed and the leaves crinkled a little louder. That meant they were getting closer.

"Could you stomp your feet any harder…" I heard a growl from Naruto's… acquaintance? Friend?

"What, it's not like we're near him are we?" Naruto mocked.

"Shut up!" his friend fiercely growled in a mere mumble.

My eyes widened at what I saw; the orange jacketed individual, a grey jacketed guy with red blobs on his face, and a small, white dog, making a slow b-line for my position. I was in no way able to sneak out of my dugout, and there was no back exit…

 _I could perform a frontal attack them. No… my tools are too dull. I could trip them with this wire… Again, I'm in no position to move. Perhaps I throw the coin, could it be a decoy? The flash might lure their attention to me with the sunlight. The kunai though, it's dull and would make a nice loud sound on a tree to distract them…_

"Hold on Akimaru." The red faced man said turning to Naruto.

They were within a hazy eyeshot of me. My hands tingled in the stress of not being able to move. I knew any moderate movement would compromise what I needed to do.

"Look, you're making too much racket to surprise this guy, and on top of that, you don't know the skill level of who you're trying to find." The red guy wasn't wrong.

"But the puny kid I found simply ran, he didn't put up any fight." Naruto complained. "Konoha's theorized bigfoot is a complete joke if you ask me."

The sun stopped beaming and was shielded by a cloud. _There's that miracle worker, looking out for me again._ I lobbed the coin by practical choice as hard as I could over them. It got far and rustled a few leaves upon its landing, opposite to their path.

Akimaru barked in my direction. _Damnit!_

Both human heads turned to the noise first, so partially, it was a success.

"Who's there? Show yourself you coward!" Naruto yelled to the trees.

"What did you see boy?" The other one asked the dog.

I laid flat on my stomach to remain under the grass. My whole body was tense as stone. I was able to peer through the grass and identified a semi-foreign figure behind another tree.

"Come out from that tree, I found you!" Naruto clumsily chunked a kunai and missed the tree. The figure behind the tree Naruto saw let out an eep and slowly revealed itself to be that same girl who stabbed me earlier!

"Hinata, what are you doing here again?" Naruto blurted in frustration.

"Well I… Umm… thought that umm… you uh…"

"Huh?" the other man was startled in hearing the voice.

His and Naruto's backs were turned which meant I had my shot. I tucked in and ran, ran as fast as my legs would take me. Hinata stuttered out of her reasoning to point out and yell at what was in her view.

"Over t-there!" I had been spotted.

* * *

Not too far behind me, the orange and grey males were catching up. Branches and twigs snapped and whipped on me as I didn't bother to weave. I leaped and crawled up a big ledge, about six feet high, and looked in their direction. I clenched one of my kunai and whirled it at Naruto. A miss, and a blatant one at that. The two guys and the dog stopped at the bottom of the ledge and stared at me.

"Give me a boost Kiba, I know I can get him." Naruto commanded, bouncing in his spot which showed his energy levels.

"I don't trust it," Kiba remarked. "He's able to do a lot of stuff up there."

"But he's just standing there, such a tease!"

"Yeah, he's waiting for us to let our guard down when we climb!" Kiba apparently read my mind.

"Can't you get up there yourself with them clone thingies?"

"Oh right, DUH. Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"

Three other Narutos formed and were catapulting on one another to get up the ledge. I internally screamed and my legs locked in shock as he cleared the ledge so quickly. One Naruto was apt to land on me and I countered with a thrust of the kunai to his stomach. As dull as it was, it might as well have been a weighted punch at best effort. This one puffed into smoke and clouded my sight. I was grabbed via shoulder and immediately jerked my bloody forearm upward. I didn't hit him as hard as I intended, but he seemed disgusted from the pasty wet sleeve which now painted his face. He released and tried wiping it off whilst backing away from me. I saw him fall off the ledge and yell as the others of himself disappeared from the disruption of chakra flow resulting from the impact... I assume…

"Plegh, Yuck!" He cried out, conscious to my surprise.

"You're bleeding, are you okay?" Kiba was shocked.

"No, his arm was and it got all over me!"

That was the last of what I heard from them as I ran further. I guess no one believed his story of discovering who the "Bigfoot" really was. I best be DEAD if I were to be caught the next time…

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 _Reguards!_ * **Snaps and points to computer screen.**


	3. The Fun Waiting Game

I don't own Naruto, never assume these things...

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Two days later:

I unwrapped the bandages from my left arm and was horrified to see exactly how much blood I've lost. The clot was well, the wound ceased to leak, but from my wrist to my elbow, it was covered in this crimson/black mask. I was due for a cleanup anyways, but the blood that came off my arm chipped off like over dried paint and floated down the river. I was morbidly disgusted with the image, but was much better soothed by the fragrance of sunflowers as it rejuvenated my skin's flexibility. Call me feminine for caring for my skin in this way, but it makes life comfy to know it won't tear from stiffness.

My mask stayed on but running the cool water through the mask on my neck felt GLORIOUS. My jacket had sustained a non-repairable injury thanks to myself lacking in sewing skills. Unfortunately, that bloodstain will remain a bloodstain for until I get a dye to blacken out this brown.

With my clothing washed and a refreshed feeling throughout myself, my bliss was suddenly interrupted yet again by my trusty stomach. I had gathered whatever left in my hiding spot and continued trotting along my ways to making a newer and safer home. Hunger was an uphill battle for every day I lived. Lived might be an overstatement… Survived is better suited. I had found the sharpener and had used it for making wooden spears. I couldn't simply sharpen the lone kunai I had and risk my one true blade on the harder object.

Perhaps that was my favorite weapon to use, the spear. Sure, it was always known as a hunting weapon and virtually no shinobi I knew used them.. Nor have I seen them in the shops of my old homes… Anyways, they're practical to me and my lifestyle of surviving. Malnutrition has really settled in this week thanks to breaking my schedule and stressing myself over being unseen.

I haven't seen that Naruto kid nor his friends since. Perhaps he's learned he can't catch me by now or has he been regrouping with more people? _It doesn't hurt to suggest your enemy's next move. It's only wrong to not look for the question or follow up with an unanswered prediction._ That's what father always told me when I was into my pre-genin homework. God, that second line hurt; it's poetic irony and unfollowed meaning.

 _A week later._

I often think voices in the background meant that my mind wanted conversation. Let's face it, having been avoiding the shinobi of Konoha had been very strenuous to my overall health. Hallucinations, nightmares, and the possibility of being encased in a genjutsu drove me up the trees. I had developed dark circles under my eyes from my lack of sleep here recently. I wanted to leave Konoha temporarily, but I missed my chance earlier and I didn't want to puzzle Ansoni as to why I'm not in the Konoha border. As excellent of a tracker and finder he was, he always had at least one tidbit of information to find where his reciever was. He never was quite accurate with returning in a timely manner to me due to his circumstances.

 _Four days past Ansoni's due date of return._

My hands felt cold for the lack of blood that was clenched out of themselves. My exhausted fear turned slowly to frustration as I counted the days, hours, minutes, almost the seconds for how late he was. Of course I don't actually know, I had no watch. Maybe from stirring up the hornet's nest, Ansoni was avoiding patrols and watchdogs. What day was I on? I said I was counting but I forgot.

I continued the hunt for my next meal as I had settled in a spot easy to conceal for resting. It also was about 300 feet from my woodpile that I used to cook my prey with.

 _That night._

I listened for anything outside, and all I heard were crickets, clueless birds, and the wind rustling with the leaves. I had my meal cooked earlier and travelled to one of my dugouts under the six foot ledge I escaped from previously. The rabbit I had was crisp, warm, and slightly crunchy as its flesh underneath remained juicy like an oven baked chicken breast. The good lord above spoiled me tonight with this savory creature.

peg-peg-peg…. PEG….

An awkward silence filled the upper portion of the ledge from where I identified the sound. I had no view but I sure had a few hopes of what or who it would be…

Huh, just a cardinal…

PEG-PEG.

Not even worth eating for it looked mostly of feathers. The bird was pecking at an upright stick that wobbled on a log over the ledge. Like a coiled doorstopper, it was making a humming noise as it was pecked which entertained the bird as well as me.

A couple of minutes passed and I was about to doze off. Maybe tomorrow he would come by? I put the hood up on my jacket and layed on my right side in the burrow, my better hearing ear up. My thoughts and faith were indifferent whether or not when he would show up… IF he would show up.

I think about two or three hours passed before I awoke again. A big fat THWACK made me jump and I hit my head on the upper part of my burrow. I clutched the back of my head and saw stars freely wandering in opposite to my stiff feeling. I looked at my exit and my face went completely pale. It was blocked. I could fit as much as my hand through the upper part above the log and that was it. I pushed against the log, it barely budged. I felt the ground and the ceiling. Solid. Well I'm stuck.

* * *

Yup, really short chapter but I'm gonna beef it up sometime here soon. By beef it up, I mean longer mid chapters. Still gonna be rounding out the characters and will introduce the others that you've come to enjoy and love here soon.

 _Regards_ _! *_ **Snaps and points to living room couch.**


	4. Stuck

Owning naruto I do not. Owning the OCs that's a yes.

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* * *

Moving my left arm awkwardly in an upward fashion to swing at the wood with my dull kunai, I had been swinging for about three hours and it now looks like someone's been chewing on the bark of it. It's still dark but the sun was slowly starting to peak out. My kunai is basically a metal finger now. Any edge that once could cut was basically nonexistent now. I had a hard blunt that did nothing to the wood besides dent it.

I felt a nice pop on my neck from stretching myself in this cramped spot. Awkwardly positioning my body to bring up both arms, I treated the two kunai I had as a hammer and chisel and started again at the log. This was more effective at piercing through the wood with the constant pressure and application of both arms. If the knife was sharp, I'd be through it by now.

I got impatient and hit it with more force. Soon the sound was almost deafening from the energy released from contact. I'm sure this sound is alerting a few people by doing this.

I had to take and stuff some mud in my ears for this sound was unbearably annoying! It's like listening to your own voice while saying a nasally EEE- every time I clashed the metal. Half the head of the first kunai was burrowed in and I no longer had to hold it steady. Judging from the other kunai's length, I was about two inches in… A long day of grinding this will be…

PING PING PING.

The sun probably reached noon now.

PING PING PING.

Nature simply had been mocking my attempt at breaking through, especially the birds… And that God awful Cardinal, next time I see one, I'll put its wings under a rock.

PING PING PING.

It suddenly was getting darker. I looked out through the minutely bigger hole and saw the grey sky as bland and solid as ever. I've been told the sky was blue but I can't really tell the difference. Except for shades… A "clear sky" was a little closer to white. Of course in this dark spot I'm in, ANYTHING is closer to white.

PING. PING.

My exhaustion slowed my pace of now chipping the wood. I found a more satisfying method of making a burrow down the middle and chipping off the edges that stuck up from my initial dig. I'm not even half way through the tree! My idea of breaking it in half and shoving it aside might be in vain due to its sheer size and angle stuck on my exit.

I had a divot almost the size of my head now. It crested and revealed a little more of the blocked world to my view. I'm so hungry right now, it's what's motivating me to get out sooner. I also noticed my clothing had loosened up.

The bottom broke out from the sky and rain poured like the bucket. Maybe it'll soften the wood a bit! My head and arms ached and my pace didn't speed up but I knew what I had to do. The water trickled down into the divot and I drank from it occasionally. The wound of the wood smelled sweet and the water was delicious. It felt nourishing to my aching muscles. _Duh, I'm dehydrated from all this working, right?_

PING...PING... PING...

My face was heavy, my arms were heavy, my whole being was heavy. Every ounce of me wanted to stop and with great reasoning behind it too. My swings weren't doing much of anything to the tree now that there wasn't much force behind them either. I layed there, combing the hair out of my face with my right hand, closing my eyes and mind to the nature around me and its conversation.

* * *

My feet were cold when I woke up, my waist felt cold too for some reason. The whole place felt very moist. It still was pouring heavy outside. It also was dark, I couldn't identify anything but a few lights which reflected in the konoha sky. My legs also felt like they were… floating… I dipped my hand in the water that was beneath me. I felt the mud in searching for my kunai and as I felt further and further down, my mind felt slightly more awake. I grabbed it and lifted my arm. I then heard and felt a big splash as my arm surfaced… The space seemed more than half full… of Water!

 _Oh gosh oh gosh this can't be real! This is some horrible nightmare it must be! Yes, I'll just squint my eyes and… No. No… NO!_ The small cavern I dug up was slowly trickling in more water! I placed my kunai accordingly and chomped at the wood for my life, for the fear of drowning was my absolute worst fear! I imagined myself now, kicking and fighting the log to get sips of air as the water kept creeping upward. Eventually, I wouldn't have the humane right of breathing, the legacy of my clan, stopped by some kid drowning in two feet of water!

I didn't survive these last two years for nothing! What a waste! I was taking the side of one of the kunai and shredding the side of the log, widening it for my shoulders. Would my head even fit through at this point? I don't care, I'll make something happen!

I dug until I had to dunk my head underwater and anchor my arms for the most efficient swinging. I had no chakra, not much energy, and maybe a bit more breathing room. I had to try to escape. I got my head through, my right shoulder popped out of the malformed hole that was made, just… one more… gah, I can't get my other shoulder through. Maybe I could try my chest turned up…

I took a good breath and tucked back in the dugout and rolled half way to try again. _First my head_ \- BUMP* I hit the rock and grunted, losing precious air bubbles in the process. I popped my left shoulder through this time and surfaced for my screaming lungs to calm down. I tried, oh I tried so hard to get my other shoulder out. I just can't, I had no power, no energy, barely a foothold to push with. I mildly kicked the rock in front of me. _Maybe my jacket made me too thick…_ I hated the thought of losing this thing but maybe then I could squeeze through. I calmed my breathing and unzipped the jacket down the middle.

Sure enough, the jacket was catching on some of the wood that I couldn't take off in this position. I sighed. With controlled deep breaths, I gathered a ton of oxygen and went under, unravelling this spaghetti monster of a jacket from my being. I surfaced again with just a mud and blood stained grey tee-shirt that I wore under the jacket. My right shoulder still couldn't get through. I pushed my back against the tree to move it, but to no hope, it didn't budge. I tried one last mighty push and something gave, finally, I could move up! Yes! Damn that was loud whatever gave... The mighty crack I heard was unfortunately nothing other than my shoulder! I comically chuckled until the sudden shipwreck of pain engulfed my upper chest.

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Another cliffhanger guys. Honestly I didn't plan on the log scene with my firstly made draft, though I didn't have a say as to if I got citizenship in Konoha either from the older story. I have to say the story turned left and is not following its intended track… Which is great in my opinion, it makes it a whole nother story. Favorite the thing if you wanna know when EXACTLY this guy updates. I won't be this active because I've been procrastinating school work. I gave le' cliffhanger so you'd come back MWAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAA!

I'll have the other characters in the story here soon, sorry for the wait.

I also believe in the butterfly effect. :3

I HIT THE 5K! -nothing to be truely proud of lol.

 _Regulards!_ ***Snaps and points finger toward the macbook that wants to kill itself.**


	5. A new start already?

I do not own Naruto, nor do I plan on making enough money to buy the rights of owning the character. I however don't need money for my OC's so TAKE THAT WORLD!

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I yelled and shook in agony, with my shoulder out of socket. The wood that trapped me was still stubborn. The waterline had been conquered and I didn't have to worry with that right now. My body stopped flinching and I layed my head back on the wood, mere breaths from losing consciousness.

"Is anybody out there?" I shouted.

No response, just the roar of thunder with a bit of flashing in the background. Without my jacket, I felt cold. The rain and all the water didn't help that factor any. My left hand was a prune and shaking. I'm still breathing hard after what happened. I saw my breath steam up as the sky lit up. Again, nature didn't like to do me any favors.

"Is anybody out there?" I repeated.

Still nothin. Even talking hurt my shoulder, probably because I was extending my neck. My left hand felt like ice, and I bet my body was going to also in the next few minutes. I took off my mask and wrapped it around my left hand, viably trying to keep it from going completely numb.

"Anybody?" *Crackle… "HELP!" *BOOM! "Damnit you're not helping!"

My throat has become hoarse. Most of my good screams were easily covered up in the storm sounds. Hell, I could barely hear myself from the rain that splattered around.

What's the point in yelling? No one would be lounging around in a storm like-

"W-what happened? Are y-you alright?" And then it hit me.

Like an angel came down to take me under his/her wings. Do angels have a gender?

"God?" I pleaded. "Is it really my time?"

"Umm, that depends." I identified it as a she. "First off… I'm not God."

"Just get me out…" I replied weakly.

"R-Right… Umm, could you hold on a s-second?"

A second… A SECOND? I'm not sure whether or not I'm more baffled that it'll take a mere SECOND to get me out, or to find the fact that she was the one who stabbed me! Darn… It seems I forgot her name.

Apparently, this here wasn't a second. It felt like a few minutes but then Naruto had showed up. Bittersweet and great timing again.

"Alright, I'm gonna get on the longer edge of this tree and push out, try if you can to do so too." Naruto yelled through the storm.

"One… Two… Push!"

It was possible, I felt the mammoth budge. I put all my back into it and felt my legs nearly dig trenches but decent footholds to move. My whole chest was clear! I bear crawled with my LAST ounce of strength to clear the top of the tree.

Freedom never tasted so sweet.

I was face first in the wet ground, trying to spit a puddle out of the way of my airstream. The girl had helped sit me up and I saw myself truely after the incident. My God, I did not look the same. My arms and legs were trembling. They looked thin, almost like twigs. I was at most eighty pounds soaking wet. I clutched my shoulder and saw it protruded forward unnaturally. It felt painful to look at that. The girl inevitably gasped when I was staring at the problem. I closed my eyes, knowing good and well if they saved me here, they wouldn't leave me to die. It was cold, tiring, but most of all comforting.

* * *

 _Konoha Hospital, after a mild coma?_

" _Takamitsu… Takamitsu… Hey bud!"_

I grinned before opening my eyes, but why the weird name? I gave him a puzzled look and aparently he got me a whole new identification, social tag, birthplace, and parents in all! He gave me the rundown whilst no medical staff was in the room.

Apparently, I had come from a more peaceful and poor land of Kirigakure. My parents had desired that I not attend the academy for there were "grudges" with elite staff in my clan. It wasn't that I had some amazing power that would wipe the floor with the academy students, I was identified coming from a civilian family in which told them that I wasn't strong.

The staff of my "Home village" had declared me under benchmark and thereby kicked me out to save the trouble. My family wanted to move to another village but had next to null money to do so. Rumour had it, the family prepared me to travel after receiving an acceptance letter to Konoha, which was supposed to get me here. I was assaulted by a jealous academy student on the way and was left in the dugout to die. I also had an unactivated kekkei genkai which layed dormant in genes from a great grandfather. (Mine I actually had done once or twice.) This was probably the shear motive of the student but nothing has been proven.

Ansoni went on to develop me as a new character tightly around my personality. My fighting style was on par besides preferring water oriented jutsus. I'd have to figure that out later. Most of what I had to remember was my family, everything else I could fake a coma for.

"You didn't lie my friend." I told him after his lecture finished. "I wish it'd came sooner before I got stuck in that rat hole."

"Honestly I hardly recognize ya, especially without that crummy jacket of yours." Ansoni chuckled as he stood up. "Your dad gave me my life, now it's time we return the favor."

My mood darkened at hearing that. I felt my eyes burn as I sat up. I knew this would probably be the last time I saw my friend too. We both engaged in a hug that gathered every emotion between us and the world, and shoved it in a package. Love, hate, abandonment, rejoicing, tears of joy, tears of bitterness, a death grip on the timer, and absolute resolution.

"Don't be stupid." I commented as he parted his way.

Out of the hospital that man went. I looked out the window and he crossed by. He gave one of his cheesy grins and shot me the middle finger with the mechanical arm and a chuckle. Only he knew what I meant about stupid. Being a _playa_ had been one of the things I disliked most of him. Time was ticking, once I was healed up, I was to report to the Hokage's office for evaluation of becoming a resident and enrolled. Until then, I put up with the needles and slept like a log… A log… A dumb ****ing log… I hate logs…

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Well, had to throw a pun cause you guys know… PUNS=LIFE

Mashua Taashi is now known to the world for now as **_Takamitsu Motonobu!_**

Hope your enjoying it! That's only two of the four characters you're expecting, I know.

I have a feeling you'll like what's gonna come up. STAY TUNED AND FAV IT!

 _Re-Guards!_ ***Snaps and points to every fallen tree.**


	6. A nice bed

I do not own Naruto and I don't make money. I do own my OCs.

Useful information-1 Ryo = 10 yen = approx .09 cents

I wasn't confronted with the Hokage. Instead, I met a bunch of staff in the middle of the main building. There was tons of paperwork to solidate my acceptance into Konoha… I also had to commute to services freely for a year to pose "devotion" before I could label myself as a true citizen, and get that headband too. All in all, I'd say worth it. I could use the time to work up some decent water techniques. I had a few ideas, plenty of basics in handsigns, and a library of ninjutsu theory books in the city somewhere. I'm far from bored of my possibilities at this point.

I applied for jobs all over to get a reliable source of income. Jobs weren't earned in a day so I had to do some quick work somewhere under the table. Inflation of this country advised I look to spending 160 ryos a day for cheap eating costs of 3 meals, or a slightly hearty 2 meals. A cheap apartment would run about 800 a month, but I had a free three months to get on my feet. Ansoni's 80 ryos in the pants of my pocket couldn't guarantee me three meals, but the bills had to have been paid somehow.

I had started my first day finding lots of potential stuff in two weeks, but nothing on the spot today. Ansoni said he could give about 500 more in given time that he can find some OT work somewhere.

I went into some ramen store. I didn't look at the name, rather I was distracted by a hearty welcoming from that Naruto kid again.

"Looking better since your little incident." He said through a mouthful. "I forgot to ask earlier while you was awake… What's your name again?"

"Takamitsu Motonobu… Yours?"

"Naruto Uzumaki, grand shobi and future Hokage of the Konoha village!"

"Woah bud, take it easy." I calmed. "Take it one leap at a time."

"Nah,

"Whatever, so what's good around here?"

"Our weekly special is gyoza this week." the man behind the counter answered.

"Thanks but you got anything spicy?"

"Curry Rice Karaage, Curry udon, and the risky citizen choice of Habanero beef Gukbap"

"I think I'll take Gukbap"

"You sure? I fair warn you, this is basically a fireball."

"Alright, I'll finish the bowl without a drink." I replied in a challenging tone.

He returned my challenge and gave me nearly a liter of what I'd call sweet, savory, death.

I took my first whiff and it stung to breathe the fumes of it. Oh that meant it was GOOD to eat. I took a spoonful in and let it settle before I swallowed. This was the first meal that I had control of, gosh it might as well have controlled me with its heat. I could pace myself in tasting every spoonful, and I didn't have to scarf it either. I could only visualize the this soup's contents in comparison to a two year old scribbling on a wall with crayons. The 'Habanero' pepper threw me for a loop which nearly made my mouth go numb. I had gotten halfway through the bowl and layed my spoon on a napkin nearby, I had broken into a mild sweat. The expression of the guy behind the table looked triumphant.

"The kick too much for you?" He asked.

"Oh it's got plenty." I replied warmly.

I took the bowl by my hands and chugged it the rest of the way to his surprise. Gulp, gulp, gulp was all you could hear in the store, that and Naruto still chowing down on his meal.

"You kids and shoving it down your throat like you need to be somewhere soon."

I had given a refreshing ahh after slurping the bowl clean and I felt my stomach bulge. _Haven't felt that in a while._

"Wow, I'm impressed with your resiliency to heat." He said. "Perhaps I'll call this one on the house and make a spicier batch tomorrow."

"You were holding back?" I covered my shock. The suppressed belch I expelled set the back of my throat on fire.

"Normally customers say that they want this dish and don't finish the bowl, or they nearly run the tap dry…"

"Ehh, * **cough** I don't like wasting food."

"How was the soup? I assume it is edible since you finished it."

"I'd eat it again sometime with a few modifications * **cough cough** if you wouldn't mind." My hands and face were breaking a full sweat.

"You gonna make it?" Naruto mocked from finishing his last bowl.

" _ ***Cough**_ Well that * **Cough** depends. ***Clears throat** Whoo, I think this is my limit sir with all due respect… Here's forty."

"No need to leave such a big tip." he handed 15 back. "Besides, what customer is expected to return if the tips themselves are an investment?"

He had a point. He offered that I take the meal free but he gave back what I didn't actually spend on the food. 25 Ryos was a pretty damn good price with its quality, and considering other restaurants' pricings... I'm definitely coming back for more. I left five under the bowl just for him being a kind soul and offering conversation. I bid Naruto a goodnight, the chef a thanks and I booked for my apartment to quench the heat.

The night drew to a close and one thing was for certain, I was a little shocked on how soft the bed was. I haven't been in a bed in excess of two years, of course I'd complain. The apartment was relatively small, and there wasn't warm water. The tap was clean… Probably much cleaner than the river if not just as.

For furniture, there was in total, a chair, a table, a sink, a counter, a stove, and a bed in the front room. In the back was two doors. One which had a broken down dryer and a working washer in what looked to be a closet. There was rust on the machinery from what looked to be people drying the clothing over the machinery. Idiots. There was a bit of mold in the carpet of the closet but I'd get to that later. Behind the other door was a decently sized bathroom, consisting of a small walkin shower, a tub, a toilet, and a sink. I could fall asleep peacefully, with the guarantee of no one watching me or hunting for me. God, it was peaceful, and I was thankful for that.

TEMPORARY CITIZENSHIP AND A FREAKING APARTMENT

I'm probably am botching the setup but trust me the gooder stuff will come with time. Yes, gooder :3

I like opinions, favorite the story to see when it will update.


	7. A haircut, a mask, and a letter

I don't own Naruto, Please support the release which is about 5 years ahead of the timeline at least...

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"I cannot believe you got paired up with Sasuke!"

"Meh, some things are just meant to be Ino."

 _God, why do I have to wait through this for a haircut!?_

"Well, I got put with a lazy guy and a fat one hmph." The blonde pouted. "Say, what are you here for?"

"Oh the works as usual." The pink haired one replied. "Nails, brow shaping, and a refill on some makeup."

 _Kill yourself._ My eyes rolled.

"Oh not you, I mean you, what'cha doing here?"

"Hmm?" I looked up.

"I said why are you here?"

"A haircut." I simply put, pointing at the thing that nearly covered my face.

Thirty minutes later, one of the two were called back. I was stuck pondering why there was so many hairstyles for men In the magazines. I picked up a generic shampoo the night before and wasted the whole bottle, which straightened and thickened this mop that I had.

Thirty more minutes passed and I went in. I was met by some lady, it seemed unfortunate that they all talked and probably acted the same. I gave a typical upward nod of acknowledgement, trying to limit their opportunities of wasting time while I'm here.

"Welcome, my name is Kita and I'll be your barber, styler, whatever, today. Here, have a seat."

"I'm here to get this cut…" I awkwardly told the barber.

She sat me in one of those chairs and raised the back up. She put a rather large bib over me, being all black and weighing in at about five pounds.

"Why in the hell would you wanna cut this?" The Barber asked.

"Well, lots of reasons." I said.

I couldn't tell if she was grooming or playing with my hair.

"Such a shame…" Kita tsked. "Many of the ladies that walk through Konoha would kill for hair like this."

 _They should try not killing it with that spray… or dye it for that manner._

"Mmhmm, now whatcha going for? A trim? A stylin? A-"

"I said I'd like this cut. Just an all around five would be nice." I didn't wanna get stuck with gossip all day, just a grab and go is what I want.

"Sorry sir, sometimes thoughts just slip." She didn't sound the least bit modest.

Probably because of emotional tension, she did a lousy cut up. I helped myself up and looked at my hair. _Short enough I guess…_

I slammed a few ryos down on the front desk and left. _I say screw the price if they don't do their job right_!

I heard some yelling in the background, probably them saying "You didn't pay full price!" or "stop that freeloader, cheapskate!" No one did, they saw the job the store has done. The sole fact that you can screw up a buzz cut should be approximate to firing someone on the spot. I bet it didn't happen, and never will it from other loyal customers.

* * *

I went by an equipment store that I sent a resume to the other day. I was immediately greeted by a female voice, about my age. I nodded in acknowledgement and scanned around at prices well above my budget, finding many nicely polished swords and tags. The store's small weapons, four bladed shuriken and kunai, were a little on the high side to what I remembered paying for back at my old village. I then approached what looked like a partial gag and souvenir aisle of the shop and looked at masks. I picked out a mask that looked similar to my previous mask but was darker and had white teeth enclosing the front side. Simple fabric shape, a slightly intimidating design, I'd say good enough.

"Hey, could you tell me if this is black?" I brought it up to a cashier.

"Yesl, and the teeth are white." she spoke as if to a small child..

 _Great, the whole town is now commensing the dicking game._

"How much?" I got to the point.

"Hmm, who or what cha getting it for?"

"Myself, my previous one finally gave way and I lost it."

"So is it like a fashion statement, a practical everyday use thingy, a coverup?"

"You could say a cover up. Nothing screams OVER HERE like a lily white neck sticking out over the sun." I chuckled.

"Hmm, now that you mention, I do have some better grade wear that some shinobi use if you're interested."

"You had me at better grade." I replied.

She pulled a black box from under the desk. She revealed a few masks that looked in texture to silk. Up close you could see the weaves of the fabric shine in the masks. Two masks were black, one was grey, one was a desert camo, and a final one looked of a forest camo.

"Fun fact of these, they cover an assortment of practical things. The darker shaded ones have a special filter that traps in heat and allows no pathogens or chemical compounds heavier or larger than oxygen to pass through. The camo ones enable cooler breathing but don't provide as good of a filter. This fabric treats the reflection of the sun inversely and exponentially dulls the farther you are from it; it sucks the rays and steals the potential refracturing energy. Lastly, there's two fabric sheets that are hand woven between the filtration system inside to enable user comfort."

"I can already assume that this is out of my price range." I replied.

"These are 200 a pop," She put up the box and picked up the other one I picked out. "This one I'd say for 50."

I pulled out all the cash I had on hand and counted it to the table toward the cheaper mask.

"...45, 46… 47. You think you can do 47?" I wasn't confident with my question and she pondered for a minute.

"Hmm, considering your drooling, I'd assume you're gonna come back sometime for this guy here… why not. I'll make you a deal, 47 for what you have if you're willing to do 220 for this one later." Her banter was tempting since it meant I get me a mask now.

"One last thing…" She took the mask and inverted the cloth. It looked solid black. "It's changeable too, and it can hide that stylish haircut of yours."

"I'll do it." I took the offer and spent all my money. "You can also tell them they're lucky I paid them anything."

I left with the typical salesman gesture of "come again soon." trailing behind one of my ears. I sure damn hope soon though, that other mask looks too tempting to just pass by again. For some quick work today, I chased down someone's dog on a missing pet poster, kept a mindful eye of picking up litter in the side streets, mailed a personal letter from house to some other house, and had overall received 41 ryos for my day's work. Not entirely bad since that guarantees one meal, and two with one more small job.

* * *

After another nightmare of the pit and drowning again, I woke up drenched in sweat, almost as though it was dumped on me earlier. The mask was like a security blanket since I hadn't owned a broken-in coat like my old one. I approached the sink and washed my face. I felt a giant weight and fell face forward into the sink. I couldn't get out of it, my back stayed curled and refused to move. I fought to come up but the weight continued to persist. I closed my eyes and breathed in. I awoke again, seeing my hands tremble as I sat up.

 _This is getting ridiculous. Yes I hate water, but I lived. Why am I still afraid of it? Why can't I rest peacefully in this soft and harmless bed? Is it too much to ask?_

The morning sky broke out as I watched it brighten. Whether it changes colour was beyond my perception to consider. I freshened up and got my mail from the apartment faculty center. I got a bunch of mail that mostly consisted of the town turning down my applications, all 27 of them. I probably should have cut my hair before doing my resumes.

 _Invalid, we're sorry, nope, aaaaand… blank?_

I opened the blank envelope to reveal about four pages of handwritten stuff. Most of it was rather sloppily written, like rushed sloppy, but legible none of the less.

 **Welcome to Konoha,**

 **I see you now have settled in, and are currently in no situation to financially take care of yourself alone. You might be wondering how or why all your clients turned down your applications so quickly. I had to find a few unfortunate souls to clean every store you wrote to. Under the current contract of obtaining your official citizenship, it has come to your possible advantage that I and few others require a favour that not many are able to fill. In succeeding in this given task, you may be entitled to a major compensation from work related quota required to meet citizenship acceptance criteria.**

 **One of our fine and gifted students of a team will be unable to attend the chunin exams due to an event not to any of your concern. The primary objective for you is to provide support and assistance for the team so that they are not at a handicap entering the chunin exams. Should you accept, you will be payed 1400 ryos a week as reimbursement to focus on your training and not your job hunting. You may receive payment only when I or your sensei writes off for it.**

 **Failure to meeting terms given on contract and given task will result in immediate confiscation of TOTAL earnings given from written consent, and termination of benefits in regards to compensation. Come by my office at 4 P.M. this afternoon with your answer in hand. There is no penalty to declining my offer, since it is only a strongly gestured one. I expect you not show up late.**

 **Yours truly, Hokage Sarutobi.**

 _Screw reading the contract at this point!_ I jumped up with glee. _1400 a week and a good shot at citizenship! Anything at this point is worth it!_

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Hey guys, college has been kicking my touche. I appreciate le' communication and more content shall roll out soon!

 _REguards! *_ ** _Points to that guy in the UK who keeps refreshing his browser page._**


	8. Assigned a team and first practice

I don't own Naruto. etc.

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"Sir?" I knocked on the main door of the Hokage's office. There was plenty of security and decorations that I passed through to get here. I find it funny that I didn't have to show written proof that I was allowed here.

"Yes, come in." A wrinkled yet hearty voice replied. I opened the door.

"I have been expecting you Takamitsu… Your paperwork, resumes, and intelligence surpass many benchmarks of Academy students and Genin considering your age."

"Thank you sir." I replied. "So what or who is my team and where are they currently at?"

"They are out training for now, suiting up for the exams that are coming up. Come, sit, it might be… awhile." He went to reading a book, grey in its cover with no picture. It only had a title on the spine which I could pick out LIB- before the desk intruded my sight.

I looked at the covers of books on the shelf and pointed to an intermediate level issue of theories behind handseals. "May I?"

"Just be sure to put it back when you're done." He nodded. "Most people often don't place it back in the right spot when they're finished."

Some of it was a little out of my league, mainly because fire techniques were mostly used and were not specific to general jutsus. There were a few interesting topics, such as conversing incomplete handsigns expense of energy versus the life threatening time it takes to form in rapid succession. Then there was jutsu creation without hand signs, that which usually could be performed only by masters of chakra control and his or her respected jutsu elements. Chakra exhaustion, a term I could only relate to physical exhaustion, was by textbook much more difficult to kick back from than physical course, I wouldn't know that type of situation since I was sparing of my reserves prior two years ago.

A few hours passed of us two reading and the door slammed open with three people out of breath. I jumped six feet up from the abrupt noise that startled me, much like a cat seeing a cucumber. All three were panting and the two smaller ones were hunched over.

"Afternoon." The taller one spoke.

"Sorry for… _***Wheeze**_ being late, lord… * _ **Gasp**_ Hokage." a smaller version of the tall one said, raising a finger to signal that he needs to catch his breath.

"You should be more diligent with being on time. What took so long Gai?" The Hokage demanded.

"Well sir, we were running along the border in an attempt to break a time lap record when yours truly realized that we had a meeting five minutes ago." Gai answered… Confidently? Humbly? Hell who knows.

"Anyways, this young student is the one you should be apologizing to. You're lucky he's patient." Sarutobi, let a hand down to impact the desk to confirm the attention of the two behind their sensei.

 _Patient is an understatement my good sir._ The three turned to me and the smaller two nodded in acknowledgement. _So this is the team, huh, I expected a little more... honestly._

"Welcome to the team. For your concerns and thoughts, you may refer to me as Gai sensei." He offered a hand which I lightly shook. "Behind me are two of my three pupils, Tenten and Lee."

I approached the two modestly, shaking bothe their hands without force. After shaking Lee's hand, he gave one of those grinning thumbs up poses. I didn't know how to respond to it so I decided in return to fistbump his extended arm. Quite the character… Quite the awkward introduction.

"Do keep out of trouble now. Gai, I am putting alot of faith in him and you." The hokage tipped his hat downward. "Don't dissapoint me."

With that chill sent down my spine, us four left the building and started walking to the training grounds. Why you may ask? I wouldn't know.

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"So tell us a little of yourself." Gai broke the ice on our walk down.

"I dunno, where should I start?" I mumbled.

"Hmm, what brought you to the village?"

"Ah, yes, it all started where my family was poor…"

* * *

"...Someone was savage enough to try and prank the teacher during our finals. He got whipped about thirty times, I heard and nearly felt every last one of them." We had just reached the practice fields, as if on cue to finishing my sentence.

It felt familiar. As though I often was near this portion of land nearby in the woods. These places were probably why Naruto found me that first time. Nothing but the sound of nature could interrupt the silence in those trees.

"Listen up you three." Gai perked in. "We begin training as a group at seven-thirty A.M. sharp. Last one there, warms up double."

Tenten groaned at that whilst Lee let out a big whoop to the comment. I felt indifferent.

I parted from the group after the instructions were made clear from our sensei after he dismissed us. I waved as I started for home. I noticed my body was better developed than my previous days, this of which probably meant that I needed to keep my disguise up so that they don't recognize me on the wanted poster board. I crossed by it on the way home, 500,000 ryos thwaped itself in bold and black letters under my former and original name, Mashua Tadashi. Shaggy hair, an exposed chin with a moderate cleft; that name and figure was supposed to be of myth since now it comes to being a misfortune for others to know or find about. Takamitsu, of all the damn names he could have chosen.

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The Next day

I woke up calmer, though I didn't remember what I dreamt of. I saw that it was 6:30. _Sleep isn't gonna do any more good to me now._ A cold shower, teeth brushing, and new clothes later, and I headed out the door a little after the sun broke over the trees in the distance. The walk was peaceful, mostly considering that no one walked on this trail. I arrived at the grounds and I regrettably found Tenten and Lee by a stump. Both had a grin which told me more than well enough that I was last.

It's a few minuits past seven! Why the hell would they bother getting here now?

"Ah, it's good to see some bright and shiny faces as always." Gai approached from behind me. "And it looks like you unfortunately get the penalty of doubling our warmup routine. Don't worry I'll take things easy on you today."

Tenten grinned at that last comment.

"Alright, pick a number between one and ten."

"Six-"

"-ty laps around the village, and no shortcuts." Gai interrupted.

 _Uhhhhh… did I just hear sixty?_

"Yes Gai sensai!" Lee responded and took off.

 _No, it wasn't sixty, it was misery..._

"You know he did take it easy on you." Tenten passed by and went. "This time."

I followed up to them, rather I tailed and trailed. Sixty freaking laps, and how the actual hell? By the fourth lap, I memorized the trail and realized they had basically dug out the track from their own feet whilst running. Lee had lapped me twice now... I think. I don't quite remember for my breathing was too loud for me to think. I had recalled myself being of mostly skin and bones just a few days prior. I am certain that I'm not built for this. I couldn't pass the girl either. I had passed her plenty of times actually, but every time I did, she would showboat by summersaulting ahead of me by about 4 or 5 body lengths.

Lap twenty, my sides were hurting, and I was soaked with sweat. I had fallen more behind and had lost her. I felt I gained a slight hunch from leaning in to run. Lee managed to pass me once again, as energetic as he was the first lap he passed me on.

"What lap are you on?"

"57!" He shouted out whilst still disappearing in the distance.

 _So, I guess I suck at running now._

"Wait, I thought you guys just had to do thirty!" I yelled to his increasing distance.

"You're correct!" Lee faded off.

 _What sadistic mind enjoys doing something like this? And Tenten said Gai was taking it EASY on me!?_

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I reached the practice field at the end of my twentieth lap. The trio seemed to be waiting for me. I felt sluggish, out of breath, and exhausted approaching them.

"You can't expect to be of much help in the chunin exams if you can't recover from a mealy stroll." Gai said. "You need some desperate conditioning."

"And what do you have in mind that will help me besides the extreme measures of your warmup routine?"

"An old classic I like to call weight training." Gai pulled out two leg bands and a vest from thin air. "Here in my right hand is a hundred and forty five kilos of 'I'm a badass in the making'. Normally you never take the weights off unless you're in dire circumstances, important missions, or... bathing. With this on, it will enable you to develop more toned and efficient muscles. With general application, it will enable one shinobi to, if anything, surpass their current physical plateau."

He tossed me the vest. I felt as though I was punched by the weight I caught, making me brace and step backwards. Gai nodded in signal for me to put it on and I did so. My heels felt more driven into the ground, as also I felt sluggish when breathing.

"Also, the vest is highly restrictive so you don't look like your breathing. It's... useful in scenarios you may affiliate your specialty with. I myself have no use for stealth since anyone I need to take care of can't keep up with me." Gai bragged.

"Can it block a projectile?" I asked.

"I was about to tell you something along the lines of that. If you notice something red on the chest-plate..."

It looked to be a small red circle where my heart would be.

"The rules are simple. Your objective is to survive at whatever cost for fifteen minutes, call it cat and mouse if you may. You are also not to attack her in this spar. For your better knowledge, Tenten is a deadeye and most often does not miss her target. If she is to hit you three times, or once on the red spot, she wins. Loser, has to finish his or her laps from the warm up." Gai set his arm forward between the two of us.

"On my snap." Not a split second later, almost unfairly, Tenten immediately reacted by throwing five shuriken in my path. I ducked backwards like a limbo bend and one hit the bottom of my vest, like went vertically up the thin part of it.

"Darn it." she yelled.

 _That would have surely been fatal to me if the angle of that shot was any lower!_ This was no mere spar, this was no mere test, this was a fight for my life that I couldn't fight back with. As I can firmly put, it's unfair.

My legs were awfully weak and shaky from the run. I initiated a low stance to utilize my arm strength in order to avoid the barrages of items that whistled their way toward me. I was amazed in how nimble she was in preparing her shots. If I were a standing target, every weapon she had thrown would have hit me by now.

I pulled out the shuriken from my vest. I didn't know how to hold one, much less throw the damn thing. I tankishly swerved around another wave of blistering tools, though one had a nasty hook which locked on to me like a lazerguided missile. I blocked with the shuriken I freed from my vest earlier and both pieces flew with kinetic energy into the distance.

"How many of these darn things do you have?"

"I'd say enough." She mocked, me being ill prepared that she flanked me.

I jumped forward and felt the wind under my legs give me chills from how close the blades were. I took off from landing on a branch up the tree. I concealed myself in the leaves and continued climbing. I stopped mid way up and could peer below that she had lost sight of me.

"Lightning Clone Jutsu." I whispered. Two other me's spawned up in my entanglement.

"Go make some noise." I shallowly spoke to one whilst out of breath.

He nodded and darted out of the tree to the south. I saw her eyes trail and she followed. She took the bait.

"On my cue, the two of us will leave and you are to follow and disorient her."

"But gai sensei said for us not to attack." My clone replied.

"What I meant was confusing her."

"Wow, I'd have never thought of that..."

"You just did..." I sighed. "Go!"

Both of us took off in opposite directions. My other clone had followed with a light foot in pursuit of the ignorant shinobi. Later in pursuit, she trapped one of the clones to a dead end end of the forest. The trapped me played the realism role quite well and seemed in a great panic as there was nowhere left to go.

"Any last words before you run yourself to pudding tonight?" Tenten set her shot up carefully.

"What if I told you you've been chasing the wrong rabbit?" My other clone butted in.

"No..." she turned around, letting the guard down on the other clone.

"Now, I'd like to play a little game called a free shot." the freer one continued. "As you can emotionally see, the one behind you was on the ropes of your mercy until I butted in. I can't help but laugh at you believing that he was the real one."

"Or maybe you're just saying that so she gives the real me a window when she executes the clone."

"You little prick!" She exclaimed.

"Which one? Me, or the quieter one?"

"NRRRAAAAAGH!" She chunked a kunai at the trapped one and he fell backwards. It had taken a major chunk of my chakra reserves to sustain the attacked one's existence in continuance after the blow. She hit the clone right on the red target and he flew a few feet back. The quieter one looked dumbstruck at what happened and dissipated to the ground with a sizzle.

"Drat." The clone replied on the ground. "I guess we both know what this means."

She held out a big grin in mocking my loss.

"Well Tenten, it looks like you hit the target spot dead center as usual." Gai stepped up to her with Lee just as observant. "Again, you manage to impress me with your physical progress, especially on piercing through the weighted armor."

"But, you forgot one thing about the challenge..." I breathed heavily behind Gai, holding a half ram, half rabbit handsign as she saw her official defeat. "You had to hit ME... the original."

I released the jutsu and hand sign, and the clone destructively dispersed into the ground, burning the grass below itself. The kunai was left with a blunted tip, reminding me of my older tools in a slight fashion. She gritted her teeth and stomped the ground in frustration. I had an empty tank of energy and decided to sit whilst slightly chuckling.

"Now Tenten, don't get so grumpy." Gai tried comforting her. "You are good at tagging what you can see, but that also makes a difference when you can't see them too."

"So how do I see what I can't see?"

"Well, you can be a Hyuga," Tenten's face looked in utter disappointment to Gai's sarcasm. "or you can predict the scenarios that they can move in. If you can trap them into a smaller move set, you may be able to predict their pattern more easily and catch them with a good guess if you're lucky."

"That still doesn't help that I still have to run thirty something laps!"

"How about we both run each half, since in a way, she _technically_ got me." I implied to Gai to lessen the burden.

"Hmm..." Gai pondered.

"Meh, do whatever. I'll see you guys in a bit." She hustled off in a mad tone.

"Is she alright?" I asked, tapping my head to clarify if it was something mental.

"It's Tenten, she's alright."

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Hello again world. Off on making the chapters larger. I have been up in Eng 251 and had zilch time for anything. Comments and reviews are well accepted if you don't mind. I figure Tenten being more on the angry side of life would benefit to make her a more dynamical character, since she is striving for rediculously high goals. Am I introducing the characters right? Is the story flowing smoothly enough from the mostly 1st person POV or are you guys darksliding a bit in the text? Let me know what I can do and many thanks!

* ** _Reguards! Points Kunai at dart board._**


	9. Signups

I do not own Naruto, Them OC's Be mine though, and don't you forget it!

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The days came and went as the practices grew more taxing and difficult. In two weeks, I was handling twice my weight now and had arm weghts, each weighing about 20 kilos. I had made an adjustment to the weights and extended them out past my wrist which covered a portion of my first set of knuckles. These things were heavy, but it aided me in throwing harder punches. Divots that I made to the trees showed the progress my strength was making, I just couldn't last that long in training. Maybe it's the chakra exhaustion that's tapping me dry...

Tomorrow was when the Chunin exams take place. Lee and Tenten were sitting beside the stump before me and I was late as usual. Late of course is up to perspective, but I was the one who usually got the penalty since I showed up only thirty minuets before call time. They were already conditioned for their sleep schedule, and I'm just trying to get enough for each day.

"Are you guys ever NOT early?" I complained, sitting beside the stump as they were.

"No." Tenten chuckled.

"Ready for the exams tomorrow Lee?" I asked.

"Yeah, room 301 at the academy. I can't wait!" He fist pumped the air.

"I heard that there were first year genin at the exams..." Tenten broke Lee's awkward ice.

"Really?" _I didn't quite remember if I was in the chunin exams previously or not... these darn stories I kept up with straddled some of my past. I have to keep myself neutral._

 _"_ Yeah, and three of them was from Kakashi's squad." Lee seemed uneasy.

"Like that's supposed to mean anything." Tenten glazed over and threw a kunai lazily and hit a tree dead center of its chopped limb.

"Where's Gai sensai?" I asked the two which immediately perked up. "It's not like him to be late."

"Maybe he expected you to show up later." Tenten lazily spoke.

"Yeah, perhaps." I stood up.

I noticed a dark figure running in the distance. Lee yawned, diverting my alarmed senses.

"Man, I think this morning's getting to me Tenten." Lee, laid his head on the stump.

"Yeah." Tenten seemed sleepy too. She threw another kunai and blankly missed the tree she previously missed.

 _She'd be infuriated if she caught herself doing that! What's up?!_

"You guys feeling okay?" I set up my left gauntlet, surpassing my fist in a grey encase.

"*Yaaaawn... Wake me up when sensai gets here." Lee and Tenten were lightly snoring and I was the only one awake.

I looked around, no one was in sight. Maybe they were exhausted... Maybe their nerves are just shot about the thought of being in the chunin exams. We were training the whole day all out yesterday. Whatever it was, it seemed just a wee bit too coincidental that they fell asleep simultaneously.

"Hmm, peekaboo." a gruesome sound said before grabbing at my throat from behind.

I couldn't yelp out before my windpipe was locked shut, as also my eyes felt tunnel vision immediately form. I tucked down and left and elbowed the character with great enough force to lift him off the ground. His grip had not loosened but judging from his holler, I had definitely done some damage. I twisted back and drove the back of my head into his jaw, causing an immediate release of my dire state. I gasped heavily for my windpipe felt moderately constricted, but thankfully open.

"Arg, you bastard!" The man called out, revealing to me via blood that he bit his tongue before retreating.

About the time he left, the other two woke up and Gai was running toward us from a grand distance at a blistering rate. Such a speed, I don't even see it to be comparable to Lee's! Wind hurled past and nearly slapped me as Gai stopped right in front of us.

"Sorry for my tardiness you three, I had an urgent meeting with the Hokage involving paperwork and other boring stuff." Gai blew it off as though notning happened afterwards. "Anyways, today's a day that we need to rest and nourish our mind and body so that we may be ready for the calamity that happens tomorrow."i

"Mind I make a suggestion for food?" I offered. _And how did HE miss what just happened?_

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"That kid is good." Iruka said to Gai outside the restaurant. "Even if I had a kunai to his back, he still would have nearly slaughtered my character."

"That kid of yours caught me off guard and made me bite my tounge too. He's not afraid of dirty fighting." Iruka revealed a decent sized gash of where he bit. "You think the other two will be ready?"

"Well, as a team, they're eager. But Tenten and Lee has gotten a bit too cocky here recently." Gai said.

"Coming from Mr. Fantastic himself." Iruka joked.

"Yes, but I have the means to back up my words." Gai grinned.

"What's his name should do fine if he keeps his head straight."

Iruka and Gai then looked through the window to see the three genin in their mid conversation.

"Hey, wanna see a cool trick you two?" I asked holding a spoon up to my mask.

"No way, your not gonna-"

"Pull a Kakashi Sensei original!" Naruto interrupted Lee.

I then phased the spoon through my mask to shock both my teammates.

"Looks like Kakashi got himself another fan." Iruka chuckled.

Gai looked a little disheartened.

"Don't worry too much, if genin could do what your doing now, they wouldn't be anywhere near genin by the time they could match it." Iruka patted Gai's shoulder and Gai perked up spontaneously.

"You know Kakashi and Gai have this eternal rival thing going on, right Takamitsu?" Tenten asked me, continuing on her meal.

"Ehh, I find it a useful thing if you don't want to reveal your face to anyone." I replied. "How's the Habanero curry Lee?"

There was no reply, only a sweaty red face and a thumbs up.

"The chef of the store said if I could lean a few customers toward his spicier food selection, he would add more to the menus." I advertised. "Try some Tenten."

"No thanks I'm not a spice fanatic." she appalled at my offer. "You two can keep your curry away from my food."

We ate to the point of almost just picking at the food. There was plenty to go around and I could tell the three of us were almost stuffed.

So, plans for the exams?" I spoke in general to both.

"Well, we don't need to show our cards upfront." Lee replied. "Keep our profile low so we don't draw attention to ourselves."

"You think we should wear something similar to look a bit more unified as a team?" I asked.

"What do you suggest?" Tenten contemplated with.

"I dunno, I saw plenty of masks similar to mine at some tactical shop in town."

"NOOOOOOO!" Gai busted in through the doors. "NOT FOR A SECOND WILL I HAVE MY TEAM LOOK LIKE A BUNCH OF KAKASHIS!"

"Everyone keeps throwing out this name, who the hell is he?!" I shouted much under Gai's volume.

"That's a longer story for a better time." Gai lessened his tension."But he often wears a mask much how you do."

"Yeah, but he often is late and never pays attention to what people say and boy does he read alot." Naruto butted in.

Gai's face blushed a slight bit at that. " _If only he knew... But it's good he doesn't know._ "

"Meh, I'll figure those things later." I left the topic.

"3 o'clock tomorrow you guys, i'll see you around sooner or later depending on where you make it." Gai parted ways.

And so, we tipped, payed, and left. All to meet up the next day, they probably would show up 2 hours early. I wasn't gonna be the one late _This time._

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The next day.

I was right in front of room 301 at about 1:30 and people were seldom passing by, more or less faculty that switched in and out through the double doors. I even saw the hokage pass by and he gave me a hearty grin. We hadn't exchanged words or anything, that's my favorite hello. A few of other foreign genin passed up by at around two o'clock, and I was growing more impatient by the minuit.

 _It's not like them to be late at all._ I thought, tallying up no Konoha genin passing through the crowd that did.

I was doubling back to find my other two teammates and I saw people crowding around a door with the label 301 on it. _That's not right, I went down a floor and that was the same number as the door I was just at._ It was inaudible to identify what was being said for everyone's commotion slurred to unify no distinguishable sentences. I saw Lee on the floor and Tenten just got slapped, hard. I, at an infuriated state, darted down the hallway into the crowd.

"Hey!" I shouted out, pursuing the squinted eyed guy with a left hook. He easily blocked it and shoved my hand back.

"It's not even the room, what the hell was that for?" I implied toward my teammates.

"So you noticed the Genjutsu huh?" The left character implied.

"No, I was on the floor earlier."

"Way to blow it dumbass." the one I charged for barked at his partner.

"Oh well, he still has to get past THIS!" The opposite charged at me with a kick. Lee stopped the blow I was ready to block against. _So much for cover, that's now blown for both sides._

"Damnit Lee." Tenten facepalmed.

"Oh well, the two ran off." I noted, and the genjutsu on the sign dissipated. "I've been waiting on you two slowpokes at the door for about an hour now."

"What!? But you never show up early." A suprised Tenten responded, following my lead to the third floor.

"Hey Lee, we have to get go-... _Oh I see what's going down._ " I shook my head and grinned.

"My name is Rock Lee, you are Sakura, Right?" He approached a female boldly.

"Uhuh?" She seemed in total confusion as to why he stated his sentence.

"Please be my girlfriend! I vow to protect you with my life!" He gave quite a flashy grin and a thumbs up.

"...Definitely... * _Yeeee-_ Not... *Awww- " she turned pale in her disgusted face and I felt almost as saddened as he was.

"Why?" he whimpered.

"Because your a weirdo."Sakura replied.

"Bud, we have to go! Now!" I grabbed Lee's collar and made a move on for it.

Not thirty feet later, Lee took hold of my hand and I lost his grip of the collar.

"What cha waiting for?" I asked, still trying to hurry to the registration room.

"I will catch up with you in a minuet." Lee sternly said. "You do not need to wait up on me, I'll check back up with you guys in a minuit."

"Well make it snappy Lee-otard." I grumbled. Tenten giggled at my comment.

Yet again, the team was split again. At least I knew where the two were now, for the time being.

"You think he's alright?" Tenten asked me out of ear shot.

"He's Lee, he'll be fine." I rolled my eyes. "If anything, he's 'socializing' with his crush."

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"Damn Lee, she socked you good." I laughed at the whelp on his head.

"Heh, yeah. Have any problems signing in?" Lee asked.

"I did till Gai sensai came around and cleared you in for us." I looked around at the other contestants as I spoke softly, many of which glared at our sore thumb squad.

Two looked familiar to me from my previous participation in the exams. They're from the mist village, and they look to have a third buddy with them again. I kept an absolute minimum of eye contact, after all, I'm still technically a fugitive.

A puff of smoke filled the room.

Alright maggots, listen up! I't's time I rounded up those baby-faced, drooling eye stares and send them on their way back to their mothers." A man with two scars revealed himself through the puffs. "I am Ibiki Monino, and you are unimportant to me. From this moment, I am your proctor and your worst enemy."

Tenten, Lee, and I were stone to his words. As a matter of fact, the whole room was at this point.

"Now, we will resume to the first stage of the chunin exams. Hand over your paperwork. In return, you will receive a number in which will tell you where to sit in the room. The written test will commence once you've all been seated."

"NOOO! NOT A WRITTEN TEST! NO WAY!" Naruto howled in agony. It seems he hasn't the slightest clue of courtesy for the instructor. The cold voice of Ibiki is well enough a force not to disobey. I sure as hell am not gonna blurt anything out to get even more attention.

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Sup guys,hope you're enjoying it. Please leave your comments and criticism, I do take both kindly.

 **REGUARDS!**


	10. Written exams (Rough, I had surgery)

You already know, don't be a boi, and my Characters are mine, MINE, Don't make me bring the sea gulls out. Just so you know, Takimatsu is actually Mashua.

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Normally, I don't bite my nails, though I do unintentionally pick up what other people do. When We all flipped our tests upward, I could see almost every head tilt backward in unison. I was on the back row and could easily spot my teammates. _Not that this would do any good for me I assume._ There were ten questions on the exam; each consisting two of Math, English, History, Physics, and logistics. History and logistics were out the door of questions I could answer. English was dull and woefully unappealing. I did have math on my side though, and physics is just a formula monster, much like math.

4\. Target B is blocked behind object C, which object C has a given radius of 4 meters. Given your starting point, which is 20 meters total away with a 5:1 ratio of distance between the object, you, and Target B, map out 4 possible equations that can satisfy the result of incapacitating Target B.

 _This doesn't give me height for the object. So, let's plug in my height... 24 feet distance total... carry the 1 to imitate the upside down parabola... *sigh, I can't focus with this doofus that keeps looking at my answer, it's breaking my train of thought!_

Suddenly, a kunai bounced off of Tenten's mirror in the ceiling, and landed on the desk next to mine.

"Numbers 62, 84, and 106, fail!" Ibiki scowled in my direction. It was the kid next to me that was whimpering and shaking about. His teammates scoffed, and made abrupt sounds in frustration as they left. I couldn't help but grin a bit. Now I didn't have someone breathing over my neck, waiting for the answers.

I looked at the clock, 3:55... _I had wasted 25 minutes on one damn question. ONE! I hope the others are doing fine, cause I ain't gonna help cut the slack any for points._

...

 _Come on... Look this way darn it!_ Tenten thought to herself. _You have the eyes to spot types of wildlife a mile away yet you have the peripherals of a damn bind man! How are you not seeing these flashes on your desk and face!_

She fumed at Mashua's tunnel vision of focus. She had most of the anwsers and had already helped Lee with nearly half of them until Ibiki broke the mirror. She now squints in attempting to make them believe that she can't read the text in the dim light. She still had one invisible wire and a partial mirror still hanging. Wether they knew what she was doing or not, it sure doesn't look like she could now. And that's the sweetest type of cheating, cheating with a dash of ignorance from both parties. Well, we'd assume both parties.

...

 _Aha! bouncing a shuriken off of a weighted kunai, that's the fourth equation!_ I beamed to guarantee a point on the board for us. This glare was starting to get really annoying in front of me. I put a hand up to block the light from burning a bigger hole in my retina. I scanned through the quiz and couldn't bother to start on any of the other problems. Man, I'd be mortified if everyone else wasn't struggling like I was. To pass the time, I decided to draw the face of one of the over watchers in the distance. I couldn't see his eyes through his mask but it looked like he wasn't paying that much attention.

More time passed and the room felt quite more airy since 10-20 teams got caught cheating in excess. I'm sure Tenten is on her third or fourth strike already. Thankfully, she isn't doing much else now. Huh... She might have actually been trying to help me all this time with the mirror... Oops.

"Alright class, once again you get to hear me blab a bit." It was 10 till 4:30. "I'm about to put the last question on the board... But there are a few rules with this question here too."

"More Rules?" A blonde girl scoffed.

"You have the option to answer this question." I laid back in my seat To Ibiki's Sentence. "But, if you choose to not answer the question, you and your team will be disqualified from the exam, regardless of points on other questions."

 _Holy Crap! So, that means this test doesn't count for squat!?_

"If you choose to answer the question and get it wrong, you and your team will be permanently disqualified from ever taking the exams again!" Expressions on many people's face looked dumb struck, horrified, and in many different forms of disbelief. I for one didn't have the pressure of choosing not to answer the question. It was in the Hokage's best interest that I stick with the other two as far as they wanted to go. This was not my choice or call to question.

"Please, speak up now and raise your hand if you don't want to risk your team's permanent expulsion of the exams." To Ibiki's words, many hands were raised, almost like a defiant cult which thought of the exams as nothing but under their feet. Of Course, the cult wasn't the case. They left with utter shame.

"Any others?" He made a last call. Naruto, of all people, raised his hand.

Naruto then slammed it down and uttered a giant NO. He babbled on about something I didn't pay attention to, but it seemed to be reassuring to the other genin examinees. Absolutely no one quit after his speech. There wasn't a trembling hand to be seen in the exam any more.

"Last call... Alright, here's the question."

He wrote in chalk to the board, which annoyingly squeaked and hurt my ears.

 **Is a kunai considered a weapon?**

 _Are you serious? ARE YOU FREAKING SERIOUS? IS A KUNAI A WEAPON? I mean... it's used as a farming tool time in and out and it serves multiple life roles like a swiss army knife would... Is it freaking weapon? Unbelievable... To think, one teammate's gonna answer like a smart-ass and get his team screwed. YES, by whatever means necessary, be it you lose a limb if it takes you to say yes... Just put that down, don't be a dumbass._

"Alright, pencils down, now pass up the exam." He said almost instantly after writing it on the board. Papers shuffled forward, mine was somewhere in the mix.

The room started to tense up. Ibiki was checking off his list and staggered from his grading rhythm. _Someone missed the question...?_

And that was the end of that individual... It didn't matter whether or not that he got everything else right, he was known to the room and his teammates as dead. Dead minded, dead brained, dead.

"Takimatsu?" Ibiki paused. Everyone turned to Ibiki's glare which then turned meet my eyes.

 _Well ****._ Tenten and Lee faced me with disbelief and slight anger. "Could you tell me why you drew one of our over watcher's face on the test?"

"Well, the individual's face does look more attractive than the rest of the bunch." Snikers were heard throughout the room.

"Hmm, it's pretty accurate I'm not gonna lie, but this gets you no bonus points on the exam." Ibiki scorned. T _his kid is unbelievable, drawing on the test as though an artist more than taking it seriously. I probably shouldn't have given a double ended question._

"Listen up." He tapped the desk after a bit of time passed. "I'm not so happy to announce that many of you have chosen different answers."

Heads turned to look everywhere, many like mine looked dumbfounded. "You who stuck through to the end of this, passed." Dead silence continued.

"But wait, this was only a yes or no question." A sand village shinobi called out. "How was it that both answers are correct?"

"Well, the answer wasn't as important as making a quick decision on the fly. You see, it took nine minutes and twenty-eight seconds to rat you spineless weaklings out of the classroom. Then this courageous orange fellow gave a sense of encouragement to travel forward in spite the idea that failure meant permanent expulsion. There wasn't much time, about five seconds for you to answer after I had written the question on the board. Those others would have choked before answering the question, and not making a decision sometimes is worse than making a bad one. Think of it as a game of chess, you each get one move per turn. If you don't take your turn and you let your opponent move, it simply sets you up for a less practical situation." Ibiki monologued.

"But that still doesn't answer my question. Why give a double sided question?" The sand villager asked.

"Come on, your simply Genin at this point. Most of you couldn't react mid test to the kunai I threw at the tests for the cheaters." Ibiki chuckled. "And to have shinobi with potential such as yourselves, it would be an outrage to many nations to have students illegible for the next coming chunin exams. In theory, that can almost become means to start the next world war, and as far as I'm concerned, I would prefer to wait a few years before that happens. Gotta break in the fresh meat.-"

And with his forced to be last words, he was suddenly interupted by someone breaking through a window to his desk. A blur with smoke in the way threw two kunai at the ceiling to let hang a banner. _" ***Sigh** Jumping the gun again as usual." _ Ibiki thought to himself.

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 _ **Anyways, that's a rap of the written exams for now. I had my wisdom teeth removed two days ago and it's my birthday today! So, I'm gonna proofread and update this chapter as well as post the next one in about two weeks. I got my ENG 251 midterm coming up tomorrow (Which is probably why she's an English professor and not a math one lol). Also, I gotta get caught up on my musical repertoire so I don't lose my scholarships and stuff. The next few weeks are gonna be rough and this probably is as well. If you don't see much updating, now you know why.**_

 _ **.**_

 _ **Reguards! *Snaps fingers at the Indonesian folk who view my content more than the Americans.**_


	11. In the forest (pt 1)

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

Mashua Tadashi, the name of which I was first given is now like a handful of sand, seeping through and away from my mind. No one ever calls me it because that name is due for an execution. The Raikage will not stop looking until he confirms either a dead body found, or a live one waiting for his termination. I of which need to find an opening to stop his sadistic plots/turn of events. Up there in that old cloud village is of great chaos. I am simply a pawn genin, forgotten on the board, in front of the left castle... on the team that moves second.

It was great to forget who I had to leave behind, but a part of me wants to resolve what augmentation took place with my clan. Someone killed them all, an individual or group. I can't identify it. My few leads are guesses. Plenty of them have experience well above my own. One of my leads are actually in the chunin exams. Maybe I can get the kill, maybe someone else will do it for me. It just depends on what he reveals; I know I'm not the only ex-cloud villager in these exams, I just have to look in the right places… right?

"You doing alright Takamitsu?" Lee asked. I snapped out of my thoughts.

"The gates are about to open, get your head straight!" Tenten commanded.

 _Gates… Gates… Oh, the second part of the exams! Damn, I didn't even have time to think about what we're doing next!_ "What say is the plan?"

"We find them before they find us!" Lee clenched a fist forward as the gates made a noise.

CLANG* VWOOM! The doors opened and we charged forward. Off into the forest of Unknown… Death… Something… I didn't quite catch the name of it in the lecture. Lee took the lead as Tenten and I seldom kept up.

A few hours passed in our travel path and I hadn't spotted much out of the norm, nor any people. Lee suddenly stopped dead in his own tracks. Me and Tenten paused beside him.

"What's up?" I asked Lee.

"We're being followed." He replied. He looked as though he already spotted the trailers.

He looked to flinch but gasped and ducked Tenten out of the way. I was met to block a few kunai with my gauntlet. Them suckers whizzed by and pegged me a good few times. _Guess I forgot how to dodge._ I pulled out the deepest kunai from my right gauntlet to reveal a steady flow of blood that spawned from the gash made. I was lucky that was the only one that hurt. A figure fell from above and I had barely caught him with my shoulders. The impact I endured felt twice of my weight but I did firmly catch him, a knee down and in the dirt. His figure resembled a malnutrition, very thin and seemingly scrawny; I assume human... just barely, but more or less some spider.

"Well, why not take it upon yourself to catch everything I throw." He spoke annoyed at me, preparing to stab from his elevated point.

Still holding him, I ducked my head down and charged the figure into a nearby tree. He vilely screamed out. I didn't see what I've done but I pressed harder into the tree. My head throbbed to his screeching. I heard vicious pops and whines from the enemy's spine and tree bark. I unlatched one of the thrown kunai burrowed in my gauntlet and attempted to thrust it to his shaking abdomen as he still was pinned. With one hand that failed, he turned it against me with an unreal twist of his joints. I twisted left and backed away from the tree to avoid his potentially fatal maneuver.

His reflexes outdid mine, though of course the equipment Gai gave me made me feel and weigh about as a tank. Mid swing of blocking a kick I hurled the gauntlet off of my right arm to reveal it being red on the underside. The enemy backed away and looked as though he was going to hurl.

"What's to be afraid of, it's only blood!" I went on the offensive.

"Get away from me you filthy prick!" he backed upon my leaping advance.

He let out a smog from his mouth that broke in my direction. I couldn't tell if it was dark red or purple. I raised my arms but it was no good to avoid it. I hit flat ground and my lungs and face felt tingly, like a strong anesthetic took hold of my senses. THe smog felt like acid to my open wounds and

I felt in frustration for my lack of focus and diminishing conscious. The outside world surrounded me in black as I tried fighting with what little effort I had left. I gagged and coughed harshly to the ground. I alarmed my subconscious and tried shaking off what I had been affected by. His lips moved but no words registered in my audible spectrum. The vision grew more narrow as my body became heavy. I blacked out.

"Sometimes he's flat out useless!" Tenten grumbled in frustration. "He hasn't stuck with any of our plans, he goes off on his own accord, and he has YET to match up to any of what standards we normally put ourselves to Lee!"

"Tenten…" Lee said, almost darkly.

"No, I'm not waiting for this potato sack to wake up from his little nap party! We've wasted too much time and resources already!"

"Calm down, this is only day one." Lee reassured.

"What is he even good at anyway?"

"Damnit Tenten! I will not have you insulting our ally like that! If it wasn't for him, we'd be waiting at least another year for this!"

"At least it'd be _three_ taking the exams-"

"ENOUGH!" Lee stomped the ground, which then preceded with a low rumble.

"We are to wait." he simply put.

It was a little before nightfall and I awoke to a warm and crackling fire. I was met by the two in positive and negative opposition. I knew what the two said about me, and playing ignorant with emotions was always fun, especially when I was the one hiding them.

"What happened while I was out?" I asked, groggy in recovering.

"We picked up the dirty work you got yourself into. You're lucky the poison dissipated through your system quickly enough. Here… eat." Tenten stuck out a barb with some meat towards me. It looked like rabbit from the smell and meat's shape.

That night, I stayed up all the way, keeping watch in return of their favour for saving me. Lee's senses would probably pick up danger in his sleep before mine. To pass the time, I was sharpening sticks to use as traps or weapons for later.

I assumed with the sun that it was six A.M. now. Lee stirred up and nudged up Tenten. "We have to leave now, we're already behind like you said."

Not another word was exchanged for the next few hours as we reached the tower with one scroll and alot of patience.

"I heard something…" Lee said out of thin air..

There was chirping in the background, not much more to listen for. Every tree and leaf had no sign of its own disturbance. The air pressure didn't change at all to my senses. But to his? There must be something of the fourth dimension going on with him. A small thud happened in the distance, rather, a bit of crumpling and many thuds drew Tenten and I to the disturbance's direction. Without warning, Lee sprinted toward the noise. I and Tenten fell behind with increasing distance from Lee's sprint.

I arrived just as he got smacked on the side of his head by an enemy. Not even ten minutes in, and Lee looked like a rugged sack of potatoes. To find my scenario surroundings, it was him and Sakura versus three menacing looking individuals from the sound village. I ran with a kick which clumsily planted on the fluffy guy's jaw. The momentum carried downward, but he countered with a kick from his vertical spin, the heel driving right onto my extended lower thigh. his kick swept me upwards and I had no means of stopping from an abrupt punch from his teammate whilst in midair. I was clotheslined and felt vigorously, my head shook from a triple impact once I hit the ground. Unlike Lee, I wasn't hit by the disorienting gauntlet the furry white guy had, _Ever so thankfully._

A defiant yell was above me and I instinctively rolled left, out of the way. Tenten stopped his yelling short as the enemy was forced to avoid her ranged attacks. A different male enemy figure looked to be changing the direction of the tools as they whizzed by. Each weapon curved differently like a bunch of stunt paper airplanes thrown simultaneously. "Hmm, it seems none of your tools are inconsistently weighted. Your assortment is quite impressive young lady."

"You guys just make it too easy for me." The furry guy grinned and threw his fist my way. I took the shot hard to the face and fell back.

My brain felt it was turning faster than my head and kept spinning. I molded chakra around my left gauntlet and raised my arms. Chakra gushed from my fingertips and formed a very inconsistent blade. A muddy, yellow glowed on my arm and I clenched to a drunken fighting stance, completely off balance. The enemy leaped, ready for the fight and I had no means to back out. I struck with a left kick to his elbow and chopped with my right arm to block his fist. Instead of that happening, I had contacted nothing but air and we both were hit by a gust of pressurized wind, being thrown a few feet left. I suppose Tenten couldn't stop the other guy's moves from disrupting me. I landed and stumbled to my unprepared foe. I forced my misshaped weapon to see it dissolve through a clone of my enemy. Reality senses brought me to hear yelling, frustrated yelling. Like, talking to Dora the Explorer, frustrated yelling.

"Damnit Takamitsu! Behind you!" Tenten came just into my audible spectrum.

I swung a left arm behind to block an unknown attack. It met air with a well timed gasp from Tenten viewing. The attacker easily ducked and contacted me somewhere in the chest. I looked around just as I got hit and the female of the enemy group lodged a shuriken almost completely through my lower chest armor plate. To be honest, the adrenaline rushing through me wouldn't say what wound, if any, I just recieved for some time. I ignored my injury and spun away to gain distance and gather more chakra for my gauntlets. Result of that plan, catastrophic failure.

I was grabbed then by a dark fellow, black markings consuming most of his visible skin. A devilish grin and red eyes peered straight through my face. It was bloodlust, anger, and unyielding rage in which I saw. He laughed and readied a knee. It connected with the tool burrowed in my armour, and blood at a fast rate poured from the puncture. _Now_ I had felt the shuriken. I laid on my right side, wincing at every breath I sucked in. I coughed and could see how much amber consumed the fabric on my face.

Tenten would not let that cheap shot slide against me. She went close quarters with three shuriken in one hand, and a large kunai in the other. Sasuke blocked with one of his own but it shattered in his hand from the blow, resulting in a laceration near the thumb. The furry sound guy gave a forearm to Sasuke's back and the chakra vibrated through his frontside. He groaned and fell to his knees but then stiffly turned his head right whilst chuckling.

"You honestly believed that it hurt me?" Sasuke mocked.

He inhumanely grabbed the arm from behind his own back and put his foe to the ground over the shoulder, face first in the dirt. I heard a loud crack and pop as Sasuke kicked the guy's shoulder out of joint, possibly breaking the... collar bone? Shoulder blade? Seeing the arm flexing already was gut wrenching and horrific as his cries were. My hands were trembling as I tried to get the mask out of my airway to breathe… only, my breathing still hasn't gotten any more efficient...

* * *

 **Hey Guys, sorry for the long wait, college killed me this semester and I passed LIT 251 with a C! (as you probably can tell by my writing performance.) I'm terribly sorry for the drastically long wait but life just came first these past few months. Cheers and regards for you 7 devoted followers from Indonesia.**

 ***Snaps and points fingers to colleague students.**


	12. In the forest (pt 2)

I do not own Naruto.

* * *

 _...Punctured lung!... ...Of all the tools I have on me, there's no syringe!... ...Just keep his chest still… ...Are you sure you can do this? His breathing is becoming more rapid, we need to act now… Damnit I said hold him down!_

Something was inserted into the wound I had from the kunai earlier. There were five people that held my body down as I shrieked and tried resisting what was being done. I was muffled by a hand and I tried not identifying for my eyes were shut, seeing swirls of red and yellow from the harsh squinting. My breaths were rapid fire, along with the sensory nerves near my wound. They were arching pain throughout my body. I tried squirming to get away from it, but the force of everyone else held me still.

"Reverse wind dart jutsu!" A female figure commanded.

I felt a vibration in my wound from the object placed. It looked to be just a straw. The pain and weight in my breathing lessened significantly from the inner chest but my wound still was manipulated from its natural healing checklist, bleeding as a stuck pig if I would identify appropriately. A hand touched the wound with a glowing aura in a circular motion and significantly eased the pain. _Why didn't she do THAT first!?_

"Alright, Takimatsu, hows your breathing?" Sakura asked in the midst of her work.

"Considering that Lee is sitting on the part of my chest that might as well also collapse from weight pressure, about 4/10."

"Sakura told me to keep you still, for it is beneficial to your health that you stay so." Lee replied.

"I'm taking out the straw now, I need some help applying pressure to close up the wound." Sakura commanded.

"Just have Lee sit on it for christ sake!" I spat out, jokingly yet frustrated.

She yanked the thing out like one would take off a band aid and I yelled out through Lee's hand again. Four hands were on the wound now, and I felt the prickly feeling of it healing, new nerves coming to life clocked in to say that they exist as the damaged ones were kicked from their spots. It felt like how peroxide feels in your ears, only you don't hear so many snaps as the nerves signify the neural connection to the brain.

Ten minutes later it looked and felt to be closed, and she still was inspecting it, looking greatly exhausted from her work. Others had released what felt as a death grip from my limbs and Lee stood up, returning my ribs' expandability to me once more.

"He's not coming back is he?" I pointed to my chest, signifying the black haired individual's damage mark to me.

"Sasuke? I don't know what gotten into him… ever since he was bitten by that weird snake guy…" Sakura seemed distant recalling the memory.

"Yeah, it was some chick named Orochimaru or somethin." Naruto pondered as well.

"I'm sure it wasn't a chick…" Sakura sighed.

"Oh yea, well _She_ had hair down to hear and was very nasal and higher pitched!"

"SHUT IT YA TWERP!" She backhanded the boy which sent Naruto flying back.

"Can you move?" Tenten asked me.

"Yes." I shakily got up but stood half sturdy.

"Were behind yet again. Let's stick together and not run off for any other team, _ahem,_ Lee." Tenten pointed out.

"But I heard Sakura was in trouble and I-"

"Listen here Lee-o-tard," I knew he hated being insulted by Tenten like that. "The team comes first and I won't have you drop like a sack of rocks for anyone else… But, I will make that slim exception THIS ONE TIME. No other."

"Also, speaking of a sack of rocks," Tenten implied to me. "It really doesn't hurt to dodge every once in awhile. I don't see how Gai let or made you wear that crap with us. That chest plate is too heavy for what it can't protect."

"Well sorry for putting down your sensai for his slight misdemeanor of choices to make when he doesn't know what I do by comparison of you two." I bit back.

"You're not the one to talk since you've had your ass saved four times already!"

"Well look who's keeping count eh? Last time I recalled, you can't tell the difference between a dummy and a real idiot in a tree." I argued childishly as she mildly chuckled and grinned under her anger.

"Don't think i'm not mad, this argument isn't over!" But ironically, I held back a response and the argument was never continued.

"You look a lot healthier than before Takamitsu." Naruto went to shake my hand. "You know, aside from the previous gaping hole in your chest…"

He had a welp similar to Lee's previous encounter with Sakura. _Man she can punch!_

"Why thanks I'll try to make it a fashion trend the next time I become chiseled marble." I eyed an unconscious Sasuke and a greatly timed sharp pain made me grab my side.

"Don't worry, that's normal. Sometimes the body reacts to it like cancer since there's so many new cells that haven't been checked by the body. Just don't do anything erratic for some time, it should be back to normal within a few weeks." Sakura instinctively replied.

"Let's go, time is of the essence!" Tenten commanded as she clapped to emphasize words.

"Thank you, I am neck deep in your debt."

"Nah, I'd say more so chest deep myself" Sakura stuck a tongue out playfully.

I couldn't run full speed for my chest wasn't taking the expansion of deep breaths too kindly. Thankfully we did have frequent breaks, though I couldn't tell if Tenten was sarcastic with her sighs of frustration. I saw in Lee's eyes severe worry… Not quite sure if it was for me or Sakura.

"I wonder how's Neji doing?" Lee broke the ice on our journey.

"Beats me, I'm so suprised that he got himself into an A ranked mission." Tenten replied.

"Who does he look like?" I asked.

"Well, he looks kind of like Hinata… except, you know… height and the lady parts stuff."

"Right…" I blushed.

"You see that up ahead Lee?" Tenten announced. "Some group of the hidden Sand are already through the doors and finished!"

"Aww no way!" Lee was shocked.

"Do you think other groups have finished like this one?" I asked.

"No, this has to be a fluke. How did they finish so quickly?" Tenten scoffed.

"They're looking this way," I informed. "What are we to do?"

"I wouldn't get involved if they already finished." Lee replied.

One of them lifted a hand that looked like a bear claw and something from the ground was forming, I could feel it from my toes. Something under? I don't like it whatever it is. The groundstarted breaking out and something was oozing out from beneath, picking up speed in spite of disobeying gravity.

"Scatter!" I was the first to react and we all fled the scene.

A mighty force soon had been cleared out where our group once was. Trees were easily uprooted and it looked as though someone took a snow plow through that spot with ease. It looked to go for about a mile.

"Stop it Gaara, we already have what we need!" A female figure over there shouted.

"We again have followers." Gaara put. "And I still sense one watching over us."

"Whatever, let's go. I don't want to wait any longer on getting out of here. It's rather pathetic." Another male figure replied.

They left and I sat near the plowed rubble in patience that my team returns. They hadn't and again, I was alone and in no order to fight. Hell, I don't even remember what scroll we had. Maybe that Gaara kid hit something on the trail that's leading back? It does provide a good and visible path for others to follow up. A nice place to set up some traps. I wasn't a fool to waste time since my team won't show up.

Over the next half an hour, I placed down some fake traps, ones that don't work but look as though they'd snatch a leg. I put some real ones on the just outskirts of the rubble and trip-weed for setting off some exploding tags in sequence. That was to be for disorientation in case they trust that the "real" traps are fake and they encounter a real one by chance.

Several hours passed and it was now nightfall. I looked one last time and called it quits since the other two haven't shown. _I hope they're okay._

* * *

I awoke absolutely hungry, mere short from starvation as my stomach rolled in agony within me. I had no energy to hunt in thinking the other two would show up, it was a bad call to assume they'd be back. 6 hours passed and I remained relaxed in the tall shrubbery, my healing factor working overtime while in my resting state. The pains of my chest were less consistent which hopefully means I'm less restricted from the wound physically.

Three dark eyed individuals were talking up a ruckus but were at the back where the rubble began. The smirks I could identify on their faces told me in well advance that they were ready to clock out of this hellhole. They eventually stopped walking to identify my "poorly placed" traps. One even said that they weren't set up correctly, it looked as though one with inexperience kept putting the trigger on backwards. The bait was set for them and it was a matter of mere moments before they would hit the tripwire. No avail. I took matters in my own hand and triggered it with a poorly thrown kunai, one that barely etched the wire. Sizzles from their behind went off and you could see the priceless wide eyed expressions they had.

"Forward! These traps ahead are only a decoy, were about to get ambushed!" at least one of the two statements are correct.

I padded my ears to deaden the sounds of explosions as they raced past. Ba-boom, bo-bo-boom, B-Boom, THRWACK, B-B-B-Boom, BOOM, BA-BOOM. The mud kept my hearing as the trap also succeeded to one of the unfortunates. I looked in closer and the bear-styled trap had gone through the poor soul's knee cap! I hadn't expected the pressure of sharpened wood could do so much! It's likely he'll never walk the same again! I heard the sobs of the individual and the other two mortified at what happened. The able ones were scanning the whole area for signs of an individual, they failed.

"What type… of sadistic… freak would… make something like… THIS!" The trapped individual cried out between fast paced breaths.

"Stay here, I'm going to get help!" one of the able ones darted the other way, unsure of how to get past the rest of the traps.

 _Anything goes in this tournament._ I thought to myself. _And this isn't the first time I've incapacitated someone either._

Two individuals, one caught and one unknown… Do I attack and risk my being or stealth advantage? Or are they up here the same reason we are? To find some lousy individual to take the scrolls from like candy from a baby. Bless that poor soul who's caught though, I didn't like how the trap malfunctioned and overshot. It shouldn't mean disqualification correct?

"Whoever and wherever you are, I'll find you, and make you pay for this!" The friend of the trapped one yelled out, in the midst of crying.

He seems scared, but could it be a bluff? I chose instead to not pursue him, rather, I need a decoy of some sort. A vocal decoy, since making a replica of one of those individuals would be too far fetched for my depleted chakra reserves. Ram-Snake-Tiger.

"Clone technique." I whispered and a nice copy of me formed. "Go make some more noise."

"Like what type?" I asked.

"Don't be a smartass just go!"

He climbed a nearby tree and made some form of animalistic shriek. Its high pitch pierced the ears of the other two around.

"YOU!" THe able one called out. "Your dead meat!"

He took the bait! My other me took to the trees and I now closed in on the trapped individual. I minded my step because I didn't remember which ones were set to kill. I was ten steps from him, five, his head turned around and I was just a little late to mute all the sound that came from him. I covered his airways so he'd pass out, I didn't need another fight on my hands. I felt my clone deactivate and chills ran down my spine, he was coming back! I gave one hard kick to the trap and the muffled cry peaked then died down. He went unconscious, i had darn well hoped. I dug in his pockets, no luck for much, but he did have a backpack.

Too late to take it off manually, I cut the straps mid way through and jetted with the bag, my malnourished body screaming in pain from the sprinting exertion. I managed to lose whomever he was in the woods in recognizing his pout of defeat. I continued dashing until I ran into a familiar figure, one sturdy but also soft. Tenten.

"Damnit where have you been?" she whispered,dusting off from being knocked over. "I thought that was you screaming out there."

"You didn't recognize your exploding tags?" I replied.

"I did but anyone from the leaf village could have those." She scoffed. "What were you doing the whole day yesterday? Why did you wander off again? What's in the bag?"

"Beats me, I just got it." I replied. "Could you help me open it?"

"What are you allergic to zippers?"

"I dunno, what if it's booby-trapped Ms. weapons adroit?"

"Good thinking." She took the bag from my hand and threw it on the ground. I assumed her tone was sarcastic. "Well, we haven't been blown to pieces."

She opened it on the ground. "Weapons, energy bars, toilet paper... oooh."

"What?"

"Exploding tags considering someone stole mine!"

"Only fourteen." I joked.

"Woah!" she pulled out something from the bag we both were caught off guard of finding.

She had not one, not two, but three scrolls! Two heaven and one earth scroll!

"Oh my gosh, I'd kiss you on the mouth right now if you didn't have that mask stained with blood everywhere!" She was in whimsical bliss in holding our tickets out of here.

"Eww." I made a silly reply and held out a fist for a fist bump.

She suited up the scrolls and returned a fist bump. Lee arrived just in time from the trees and saw the scrolls whilst achieving a wide grin. We were done here, as long as no one stops us between here and the tower.

"I say you redeemed yourself and some Takimatsu." Tenten said warmly.

" _It's not like you to be open like this…_ " I skepticized internally.

Being safe, from behind, I put a kunai to her back and wrapped my arm around her neck.

"Alright, who are you, and what have you done with her?" I growled.

"Takimatsu!" Lee exclaimed!

"Tell me now, or your swiss cheese you imposter!"

"No she's not I saw this from in the trees!"

"Too late, because I figured it out already! There isn't a way in hell you're real!" I poked the kunai harder into her back. "I'll give you one more shot, tell me who you really are!"

"Grr… All this time I've been yelling at you and you take it the wrong way like it's a diminishing thing and now you're threatening to kill me because I said two nice things to you? Really Takimatsu?"

"Wrong answer…" I thrusted the kunai and tucked my arm forwards, potentially severing the spinal cord with its own vertebrae edges The kunai I used was dull; I relied heavily on pressure to execute my maneuver of crushing the kidney. I twisted the arm as far left as physics would allow; the body started spazzing out.

I heard a deeper choke and then the body went limp. God that was horrific, but they had similar intentions of taking advantage of me. I have justification that they were willing to do the same to me if I were the prosecuted. Lee pursued and kicked for my head. I was able to block it with the corpse but disarmed myself. The energy of ANY of Lee's normal kicks would have transferred cleanly through and would have hurled me through a nearby tree. Both of them were imposters… Which meant that my team was in trouble! Damnit!

"You… You M-Monster T-Takimatsu!" Lee cried out.

"It's Takamitsu." I darkly mumbled to him. "Why they never pronounced my name wrong once…"

His eyes widened in horror and he ran off in one direction, more toward the traps. I couldn't keep up for the anger for my friends was outweighed by his fear. I had lost him. I reached in the bag and found an assortment of pills, many grey, yellow, and red (I assume blue for grey, but being colorblind I can't tell). None of them had labels. Laxatives? Powerups? Maybe Chakra pills? I'll find out later. I took an energy bar from the bag and scarfed it down instantaneously. The energy was slow to return but creeped up none of the less. I doubled back and picked up the scrolls from the corpse to triple forward.

Another distant scream. I surveyed that it was still in the direction of all the traps. I approached the trapped figure and observed the item catching his left leg, just on the calf. _That's how it's supposed to get them._

"Tell me where they are!" I yelled.

"What does it matter? You're only gonna kill us anyways!" Fake Lee cried out.

"If you tell me, I will come back and free you from this!" I exclaimed over his cries.

"And say I don't!"

With those words in my mind bouncing around, I looked for a real trap in the midst of all these fake ones. I threw a rock on the sensor and it snapped up itself. I heaved to cock it down to be set again. I then gently picked it up and walked over to the trapped person.

"Would you like another?" I joked.

"Oh yeah, like that would work!"

"Alright then…" I set up and threw it in the air to land on him. This maneuver hurt my upper abdomen but it sailed to its target with ease. It snapped shut when it tapped the guy's head but just made a loud sound, not injuring him any. I couldn't tell if his screaming was from fear or from pain; my betting instincts say both.

"Are you willing to co-operate?" I asked.

"Like I said, what's the point?"

I threw the trap out of the way of his grasp and started kicking the currently in use trap, making it move around in his wound. Sadistic again, but I had no other leads to finding them.

"Alright- AGH- Alright I'll talk…. Just please-STOP!" He said.

"I'm listening." I backed away.

"Head east, there's a hut we made under a giant oak. If you hit a large patch of Ivy, you've gone too far."

"I'm coming back for you." I said.

"But, wait! You said!"

"Don't worry, if you're wrong, you'll wish you said the truth." I proceeded to ziptie his arms behind him as well as gag his mouth so his extra screaming wouldn't draw much attention.

"Here's a heaven scroll, I'm being slightly generous. I might even have the rest of your friends come and get you, saying there's a nice gift for later." I headed off hearing what was a muffled version of 'You Bastard.'

...Big Oak… Big Oak… I obviously can't miss it, but i see nothing but pine. Fifteen minutes later, I found a multitude of hollowed out Oaks. It also was quite foggy; I pulled out a bottle of water and took small sips. My outfit looked disgusting: fresh blood splattered everywhere, a nice gaping hole where my jacket was, the inner shirt ripped to shreds, my shoes and one palm crimson, my hair and mask muddy and dried brown…

I can't tell how many days we've been out here… It feels like months. My sips went to gulps as I realized how thirsty I was. Still no sign of them. I was afraid to yell, like I was being monitored and if I reached a certain volume, they would sound an alarm and have a multitude of executors present.

 _I hear breathing… Soft, slow, almost bearlike… Was it… No, of all the things I actually find the… the… is it in rhythm? 1..a2. &...Yes Yes, YES!... Holy cow there's progress, I can hear their breathing…_

I listened with my left ear and rotated 360º. He lied about the Ivy, because I just crossed over it, but there they were, asleep and hogtied by some sort of nylon rope, t'was rather durable to my dull equipment. Lee had stirred awake first. His face looked pitiful, full of bruises and scuffs.

"They took our Heaven scroll." Lee mumbled.

"Shh." I replied.

"He went back for his team, I'm not sure if he'll be back soon." Lee's voice was whispery and raspy

"You have any sharp tools? Mine are dull and aren't cutting through." I asked

"You got a weapon mistress over there who can help us if you can wake her up."

Tenten laid there seemingly tranquil, though I saw bruises and marks of rust on her clothing from what shaped to be hammer marks, like a tool hammer. I grabbed her shoulders in preparation of jolting her awake but the vision of killing her imposter flashed in my mind. I freaked out severely and immediately let her go, clenching my fists and shuddering at the thoughts.

"What's wrong Takamitsu?" Lee croaked.

"I killed her." I blankly put.

"No you haven't she's still here."

"No Lee."

"She's right there, breathing."

"You don't understand what I've done…"

"Takamitsu!" Lee frustratedly spoke.

"I killed one of their friends." My hands shook. "Another is stuck in a bear trap that I set… And another one I think bled out in the trap!"

"Takamitsu…" Lee softened. "It's the way life goes, they would have taken you if you didn't defend yourself."

I tried again and sent a pulse between my palms. Tenten gasped and her eyes bugged open.

"Wakey wakey, vegetables and sadness." I spoke.

"If I wasn't tied down I'd slap you." she grumbled. "Asshole."

 _That's the Tenten I know good and well._ "Can you hold that slap for a second and observe the two things I got for us?"

"What two things are possibly… You didn't." Tenten in disbelief.

I held up the two scrolls and her face perked up.

"Now do you have anything currently on you that I can cut you guys out with?"

"What happened to the tools you borrowed from me earlier?" Tenten seemed a little irritated again.

"Uhh… well, to make traps, you need a blade to-"

"And no I have nothing on me, they took ALL of my equipment."

"Would you know where it would be?" I asked.

"Might be in the trees."

"I'm coming back shortly." I left and started climbing.

Looking around, the fog was less soup and my view could span to the walls of trees outside the Oak patch. Many of the trees were dead, but nothing hung except branches. On the ground, I could identify a green lap bag; it had multiple pockets and looked stuffed.

"Gotta be the one…" I went down and before I picked it up, I saw that there were multiple copies of the same bag. Decoys? Boobie traps? Possibly a proximity alarm?

"Hey Einstein, it's the one with a crap ton of stuff in it." Tenten called out.

"Yes, but which one?" I replied.

"What do you mean which one!?" she nagged.

"I mean there are multiple bags that look more alike than siamese twins!"

"So they're conjoined?"

"That's not what I'm getting at!"

"Do you even know what these words mean?"

"Sure, I'll Google it later!" I replied.

She sighed frustrated and I picked one at random, the farthest one left in the bushes. I heard a hiss and slung that thing out of reflex. It blew up in mid air and shrapnel of tools were blown everywhere. I dove behind a tree with succession… _booby traps._

"Everything alright there?" Tenten asked.

"Yeah, just a little suicide bomber in every bite." I unshielded my face to find the bag was a crisp in bits and pieces.

The next bag I picked up thankfully was the real one that didn't kill itself. I broke both of them free and we had a small reunion once more. We headed back to the trap zone in my courtesy of freeing the one guy but he was nowhere to be found.

"He must've escaped and the other too." I said as we walked past.

"Alright, home stretch." Tenten was gleeful.

We approached and went into the tower to meet in a blank room. A wall in front of us read

" _if these qualities of heaven are your_ _desire,_

 _acquire wisdom to take your mind_ _higher,_

 _its earthly qualities of what you_ _lack,_

 _train your body and prepare to_ _attack,_

 _when heaven and earth are open_ _together,_

 _the perilous paths will become_ _righteous forever…"_

"So it's to do with the heaven and earth scrolls…" Lee was the first to respond.

"We open them?" I spoke aloud.

"They did say we weren't supposed to…" Tenten replied.

"I'd say Takamitsu is right on this." Lee said. "For when both are opened together, the perilous paths are righteous forever."

"Here, you two open them, I wanna see the sorcery magic happen." I threw the scrolls to both of them and sat down.

They both seemed hesitant but pursued as we consented to the curiosity of the writings. They both nodded and snatched them open simultaneously, resulting in a large cloud of smoke forming. They put the scrolls down and backed away quickly. A figure appeared from the smoke, no older than us by about three years.

"Congratulations on being the fourth team to pass the second round of the chunin exams." the figure lazily said, seemingly sleep deprived.

He looked up, saw my condition, and went wide-eyed.

"Sir, are you o-"

"Yes I'm fine," I stretched my left shoulder. "Could you point me to the bathroom to wash up before what's up next?"

"Yes, this way. I'll bring you three to a dorm to share. You each get two meals free and there's still a day or two before the deadline ceases. It's best that you sit, relax, and catch up on whatever the hades happened out there." He stared me down and I held my confident composure. _Yup, he saw the blood._

I went right for the restroom, closed the door, and stripped down. My face was barely recognizable with the mud and blood. I ran the shower cold and had everything melt right off. I wringed out my mask and put some coconut flavoured conditioner in it and it smelled gorgeous. My t-shirt and jacket was shredded and my pants had one tear in the left lower thigh. I wrung those out too and ran the last of the coconut conditioner through it. Maybe there's complimentary t-shirts?

Identifying officially as clean, I went out only shirtless and jacketless. I was stared down with confusion for a bit then Lee went in next.

"So that's what you've been hiding under that jacket." She laughed. "I expected something like arm scars or something."

"What the gaping hole in my chest previous wasn't a pepe show enough for you?" I joked. "Oh God, he's showing Lung! Children, you're not supposed to see that till your married!"

"Sakura did a nice touch-up, I hardly see the scar." She giggled to the joke previous. "But all that blood though, how are you not pale in the face and weak after that incident?"

"The energy bar in the bag." I replied.

"Iron and B-12… that'll save you."

"What is supposed to come after this challenge?"

"I don't know the name of it but you fight one other person-"

"And the judges determine if your skills are worthy to be upranked… Now I remember."

"Something happen to you before?"

"Last exams I was in, I met the minimum age, got through everything, beat the last guy, but the judges had a grudge for my clan so they wouldn't let me be a chunin. _Takamitsu four out of ten performance. Deemed too immature and irrational with chakra usage. Send back to academy for re-evaluation, effective immediately._ Then my parents said 'F*** it son, we're getting you out of here.'… Haven't heard from them since."

"Why a four?"

"Well, to put it like this, 5 means even match, and a lower number means luck got you the win. Those bastards played all the scams. If it was any lower, my family would have rioted. If it were higher, they'd have to pass me. Politics in a nutshell if you may."

Lee exited with nothing but towels on and left his suit to dry on the drying towel rack. His abdomen and chest was still marked up from the time they were captured.

"Do you know where the complimentary clothing is at?" Lee asked.

"I haven't left yet." I replied. "I might as well come with, since I need something too."

Tenten got up to be the last one to go to freshen up. "Hey Takamitsu, be sure to take your mask off without a shirt. It's just offsetting having a mask but no shirt."

"I'll take my chances mom." I grinned.

She scoffed and slammed the door. Me and Lee went down to floor 3 of the tower and found some complimentary clothing and changed separately upstairs. Well, I just put on a shirt. Lee on the other hand, looked like a completely different person without his jumpsuit. He looked almost… normal if it weren't for the bowl cut. He should go to Sakura now and ask, maybe she'll be a little less weirded out…

A literal hour later, Tenten came out, and in spite of what dirt covered her face earlier, was cleared and has now showed major bruises all over her face. Towels covered anything and everything, and I never looked either. Once she stole the last pair of complementary clothing we set out for her, she came out with straight hair that fell to her calves.

"How do you put up with hair like that?" I said in shock.

"Well, you _literally_ put it up, in a bun, with no screws to give because you're only focused on keeping it retained. Also, thanks for saving both our butts out there."

"Nah, you guys pulled me through the first half of the relay. It's I that should be thanking you guys."

"You're the reason we got this far. If you hadn't shown up, we'd be waiting another year." Lee put in.

"Can you guys make me a promise?" I asked in sincerity.

"What kind of promise?" Tenten replied.

"Win." I stated. "Get out there, and make it. Do it for you, and do it for me."

"Well that seems rather-"

"Don't let one die for nothing Lee,... Tenten." I looked out the window, tonight was storming.

I seen myself act without a second thought on killing the imposter of Tenten… I wonder how his or her family is going to take it. I wonder how I would take it to accidentally kill her. Fake Lee was pretty convincing to make me think I was delirious. I never saw their actual faces… It's funny how neglectful I was of the human life, in spite of what I wanted to accomplish back at my old home…

Oh the freaking irony…

Goodnight little angels…

Goodnight Lee...

Rest easy Tenten…

* * *

 _And a nice little influence to possibly turn this character to the MA audience from all the goreish imagery (at least what went on in my mind :3). I myself was contemplating how important the human life was at my church and realized, you individually get one shot to make a story. Give it your best damn shot you can take and you might be remembered for it. Don't be the mother fletcher that takes the lives of random people, that's robbery of another person's story. Screw the religious aspects of murder. Anyways, deep in thought about life, and I can't really write unless I 'get into' the character's sight and perspective. Know too that your life also is important. Don't rob yourself, don't rob others, make a good life story._

 _ **Regards to everyone who enjoys my content**_

 _ ***Snaps and points fingers to Duke's mom, God rest her soul.**_


	13. Preliminaries

Ch. 13

 _"Who are you? What have you done with Takamitsu!" I was being constricted of air and Tenten was behind me, holding me vulnerable to serious injury._

 _"I am him, my real name is Mashua."_

 _"You imposter! I'll give you one last chance to tell me who you are!"_

 _"I am Mashua Tadashi, I am a young graduate such as you two, and was paid to help pass the chunin exams!"_

 _"Wrong answer…" She snapped my head left._

I awoke in a bed twisting into the floor. I felt the irony of those words in which I gave to that person… I realize that it was my lie that got (let's say HER) killed. I looked over to the two and they were fast asleep, like rocks. I've really grown attached to these two in the exams. 3 AM, it is pitch black with a new moon. I wonder how the rest are doing who are probably still in the exams. Leaves rustled; probably from the wildlife, but no signs of any humans outside the tower. I wandered into the mess hall and opened a fridge to get a sandwich. I'm still shuddering about how heartless I was back there.

 _They'd have done the same thing and you'd be dead!_

 _No, they just wanted the scroll, why else are the two still alive?_

 _Why should you care? All you really need is to get revenge for those who slain your village name._

 _And who's to say I can fight ANY of them on that list?_

 _Do you even know the list anymore?_

 _Are any of them Chunin?_

 _I asked about names first._

 _What's the name of the kid you killed back there?_

 _How should I know-_

 _Innocence…_

 _Shut up! You don't know-_

 _Of course, because I'm you._

I missed the sunrise and found myself sitting still at a table with one bite taken out of a now lukewarm sandwich. Three people from the sand village showed up and sat at the table I was… The redheaded guy stared at me with just as blank of a stare as I returned.

"What are you looking at insect?" he broke the ice for us.

"Gaara don't be so rude." The female told him.

"I don't care about politeness, he and everyone else are still enemies to me."

"I'm Takamitsu." I held out a hand.

He looked away, seeming just as distant as I.

"Don't mind him he's-"

"Temari, I am not asking you again, quit conversing with the enemy." Gaara mumbled.

"Gaara," The other guy of their team butted in.

"-What are you guys on about, he hasn't even looked me the wrong way. I sense… A slight understanding in his eyes… Especially since the last time I saw you snooping around us…"

My back felt chills of fear.

"When are these damn exams gonna finish? I'm already tired of double backing for these boring fights." Gaara leaned back in his chair. "I'm really starting to like you kid, you don't babble on like these two.

Did he just consider me as an ally?

"Don't think I'm being friendly, you steer clear and you might not get hurt." He got up and they left, him staring at me out of the corner of his eye.

An hour later four or five groups got themselves a breakfast, my team still seemed to be fast asleep. The team of Hinata's showed up with only her and the guy with a dog as a familiar face showing up. The dog was retaliate to commands and growled at me.

"Hey Takamitsu," Hinata said warmly. "Long time no see."

"The same to you Hinata." I replied. "What's been going on at the tournament for you guys?"

"We saw that scary red head guy with the sand-"

"Gaara, yes, he's quite unique." I interrupted.

"Akimaru, what is your problem this morning?" The guy said.

"Maybe he's grouchy Kiba." Hinata put for the dog. "We haven't gotten here but two hours ago."

Akimaru jumped out of Kiba's grip and went for me. I shoved the chair back and he got on my shoe and started gnawing in the leather ferociously. I tried shaking him off but that only deepened his grip with the teeth.

"Hey!" Kiba exclaimed. "Get off of him!"

For once, the dog obeyed, though my shoe had been torn apart. The dog had received a few scoldings and slaps to the back of the head.

"What do you mean we seen him before?" He conversed with the dog. "With Naruto?"

I got up and left while they were chatting and Hinata said goodbye. I hadn't replied but walked my way back to the apartment. Tenten was meditating in the corner while lee was doing one arm push-ups vertical.

"What no food for us?" She smirked.

"They only had one sandwich." I mocked and threw her what was left of mine.

"I don't want this." She threw it back.

"Here Lee." I chunked it to him.

He caught it with his other hand and threw it back to Tenten.

"Asshole, I said I didn't want one!" She darted it which hit Lee's chest and threw him off balance.

*faceplant

He sat back up and we all laughed.

"Anything good out there? Seriously?" She was modest.

"See for yourself, it's better than what we've been having." I replied.

"Alright, I'll see you two in a bit. Don't break anything while I'm gone."

"Will do." me and Lee replied.

She left, returned and we had a nice long bit of peace and quiet in eating. We were to report to the bottom floor of which had an open space, two enormous hands in a ram position, and the rest of the succeeding nin. We were told that this test coming up was preliminaries as too many have made it this far. Most of Konoha's group made it to here and we had 21 total make it. A guy named Kabuto quit and so there was now an even number of fighters.

Here's the rundown of the fights, the name on the right concludes the winner…

 **Sasuke Uchiha vs. Yoroi Akado: Sasuke**

 **Zaku Abumi vs. Shino Aburame: Shino**

 **Misumi Tsurgi Vs. Kankuro: Kankuro**

 **Tenten vs. Ino Yamanaka…**

The match started rather physical and Ino had a sturdy defence without tools. Tenten was disarmed three times before she realized melee wouldn't work with her. Ino on the offensive seemed ineffective in thanks to Tenten's speed. Also, Tenten seemed better winded.

...She did what she did best, she kept her distance and kept moving. I didn't quite know what Ino had in store as far as abilities but from Tenten's strategy, it seemed that Ino had a short range type of attack. Ino was out of stamina by her breathing which gave a window of opportunity for Tenten. She leaped Ino's way and apparently Ino bluffed. Like a fish in a barrel, Tenten was about to get trapped under something big. I came to find that Tenten didn't get hit, but someone in the sideskirts got hit by whatever it was… I was that someone in the crossfire.

"Gah, I guess it'll do…" I spoke unwilled to do so.

I now being under the will of Ino's control, went to fight Tenten. To Tenten's disadvantage, I was much quicker and had a mountain of energy to expel. The referee looked to stop the match but gai stepped in and told him to only pause it if I escaped the jutsu.

"Earth Release, directional sinkhole!" I yelled.

The battleground broke up and became mushy. My energy levels have dropped significantly since I am not an Earth elemental type. I tackled Tenten and we both went into the dirt to be swallowed. I felt as though this was a portal because we continued downward until we reached the room's ceiling atop to see everyone else as midgets below. Tenten held onto my arm for dear life in spite swinging around like a ragdoll. Both of us fell and I regained my movement half way down the fall. I grabbed her with my other arm and carried her momentum as far upward as I could. I landed back first to the ground and immediately blacked out, her also using me as a cushion.

* * *

 _-derivative Mashua (Takamitsu) doesn't hear nor see.-_

 _"Sorry to make things awkward with you and your boyfriend." Ino stuck her tongue out with a mischievous grin. "He sure is googly eyed for you."_

 _"Shut up you insult of a corpse!" Tenten lashed out and delivered a volley of blows to her foe._

 _Some were dodged but some had direct hits to vital areas of Ino. Ino on the defensive was desperate for another opportunity. Tenten out of wind had to step back and breathe. Ino tried the mind transfer jutsu on my unconscious body and was successful._

 _-end of me not knowing what happened.-_

* * *

I had reawakened but it was morbidly painful from mine and her shared perspective. My back felt in many places, a sharp stabbing, along with a few of my ribs likely broken from the impact. She disconnected from my mind and suddenly she was in the same pain I was in. She yelled, grabbing her back and sides and rolled.

I remained still for moving worsened the pain. Medical nin went in and got me to the side on a stretcher to evaluate my injuries… I did my job for one of them at least… I felt the hands reform the spinal column and attaching the ribs back to place.

"I'm sorry I didn't stop things sooner Takamitsu." Gai apologised.

"Will I be... able to fight?" I winced at the tingly feelings of repairs.

"So far, we can fix this but I advise not to." a medical nin said.

"That means I can." I sat up and winced.

"The fixings we do are only temporary so you can be attended to with proper equipment and staff."

"Gai sensei, do you have another one of those armor vests?" I Ignored the medic.

"Well I'd have to run back home but I do have another." He took off in a blistering dash as I nodded for him to go.

"I strongly advise that you sit this out. You cracked multiple vertebrae and broke ribs! You're lucky to even feel your lower body!"

"If I'm still kicking then I'm still fighting." I looked the medic dead in the eye. "Thank you for helping me, but i'm not gonna fail this again."

"Are you alright?" Tenten asked, surveying my back as I put my shirt back on.

"Never better." I lied.

"That's gonna leave a nice bruise mark after they're done; It's down most of your back."

"Congrats on winning." I acknowledged.

"You really do need to rest, including with your previous injuries."

"I don't give a damn if I flop like a pancake when I get out there again. This is my achievement to make for myself."

" **Yeah? Well, what if you cripple yourself!** " Her concerns were irrational to me.

" **Then just have the damn crutches or cane shipped to the hospital from your shop!** "

She was in distraught to the attitude of my condition and she turned and left the main portion of the stadium. Many others had stared at me in the argument, some angered as well…

The next fight was absolutely in opposition in being a motivational push in competitiveness. **Sakura vs. Temari.** Sakura was out witted, out armed, out ran, and out classed. It was essentially a shutdown match of Temari being untouched.

 **Shikamaru Nara vs. Kin Tsuchi: Shikamaru**

 **Naruto Uzumaki vs. Kiba Inuzuka: Naruto**

Gai had came back and had barely gotten me the chest plate just in time for my match:

 **Takamitsu Motonobu vs Hinata Hyuga.**

I assumed an aggressive offensive stance after shoving on the vest in waiting for the referee to start the match. Hinata didn't seem so timid anymore and returned my glare. For a moment in sheer silence, time had stopped and the fight was just between me and her. Someone who most likely wants to become a chunin just as badly as I do, if not more. I felt saddened that in the end result, only one of us would come out one step closer to our goals. I am either to act now and end it early before something inside me falls apart, or keep my distance and observe like Tenten...

"Begin." The ref muttered.

I was taken off guard from how the word had no power uttered under it. My lack of hearing lead to her delivering the first blow. I blocked her second shot by grabbing her wrist and twisting it outward. I've been told many a time by Gai to avoid contact with the Hyuga clan's palms at major costs. She kicked with her left foot into my right side. I released my grip and felt my whole chest in pain. The vest dispersed the energy through most of itself and rattled around as one, much how a roller coaster holster reacts.

Her attacks were consistent and precise in opposition to my sloppiness. I blocked two of her punches with the same arm and pulled out one of Tenten's tools, a miniature axe, hand sized; I didn't know the real name of it. I kept it in constant motion, spinning to enable some sort of defence against this streak. Left kick, right punch, uppercut, ect… I felt a pattern forming every ten to fifteen hits. Physically, I was exhausted, mentally, I was screaming from adrenaline.

"Byakugan!" She yelled.

Veins had swelled near her eyes as a pupil was now definable from her look. It was scary. I took a major leap upwards to land on the roof, standing upside down to her frustratious glare. I had to think of something… I either had to use my chakra now or have it forever blocked from her excessive taijutsu.

"Land of water, Golden eye!" I yelled in a slight lie.

Her face was lit up with confusion to my eyes changing colour, or was it the jutsu name? I seen her with a slight stigmatism, my left eye seeing sharper than my right. My chakra reserves wouldn't enable me to fully activate my bloodline trait. I leaped down at her and she dodged my tackle attempt. She thrusted the heel of her palms differently with chakra spurting out like a flame. I blocked with the weapon and had to dodge the other hand. With my partial activation of my jutsu, I noticed a moderate half second delay to the unactivated eye therefore I closed it. I was a southpaw but had to maintain a right handed stance in thanks to my blind spot.

"Eight Trigrams two palm!" Two shots have hit my left arm.

"Four!" One hit my right leg and three to my right arm.

"Eight!" I could no longer count or feel how the shots landed.

"Sixteen!" I flinched the tool forward and to my surprise, her right wrist got sliced a decent ways in.

I felt my chakra become nonexistent and unusable to my arms, my vision had improved to my worse eye and she moved significantly slower. Of course I did too since I had no chakra to push the limbs past my physicality. The axe fell from its lodged position on her wrist and she cradled it in a bit of distance from me. I took my last three kunai from my pockets and threw two. She caught the first one with her spare hand and avoided the second one.

No chakra, my bloodline trait beginning to fail, and one weapon, I have null options, except the wrist. I ran full force at her and sent a volley of punches her way. She avoided few but blocked most with just one hand.

"Hey Lee," Gai notified him. "Notice his chakra levels and see how he's fighting."

"I know Gai sensei, I can hardly spot an ounce in him!" Lee replied.

"You see, it doesn't always take chakra to put up a fight. Lord knows it makes life easier. He is about to collapse though, one can only push so far."

"Takamitsu isn't a respectable fighter Gai sensei. He more often finds a quicker and dirtier method to winning his fights."

"And what if your opponent is either stronger or cheats to you? The only thing I find unfair is toying with a weaker opponent. Lots of times fights are nothing but unfair."

"I see, that means-"

"He's constantly on the ropes and just edging by."

 _Damnit, I can't match her speed! I won't be able to keep this up!_

I threw the kunai at point blank range at her and she blocked it, opening up for me to forearm her. I did so but she countered it with hers. I then grabbed her bad arm and yanked it toward me with pushing the other arm back. Her legs twisted then buckled and he hit the ground. I put her arm behind her back and applied pressure to the damaged wrist, her being face down.

I wasn't applying full force, only most of my energy was spent keeping her still. I looked around and saw faces of concern to my eyes over her shreiking. They were saying what my soul told me. _Don't_!

"In battle ninja aren't supposed to show mercy in battle," I stated. "But I see no other option than to break your wrist Hinata..."

I saw her eyes close in fear and she tensed up.

"I'm going to call this a checkmate and leave it here." I released her wrist and got up from the submission hold.

She sat up and was cradling her wound, blood staining her jacket a plenty. Medical nin attended to both of us. I had recieved soft looks from a lot of people, especially from two of the medics. I assumed that I won

"Take your vest off." One of them commanded.

I did so and l saw myself for once not dirtied by blood nor a horrific wound. My chest from Sasuke's stab will remain a scar, and i'll be recuperating from severely fractured ribs for the next few months.

"Well, looks like you'll be out for a while. The damage to your lower and middle back is quite abundant. On a scale of one to ten, how bad's the pain?" My side was prodded and it felt like an ice pick just spread through my whole chest.

" _Absolute nine!_ " I grunted and gritted my teeth.

"Adrenaline is abundant in his bloodstream. I need some morphine before pain spikes and his energy crashes." I laid on a stretcher and everything moved at once. The chatter was well above my comprehension, and it traveled like lightning. I was transferred to the hospital once again and put in an OR. "Not too much! We don't want him in a coma!"

The medical area spinned around me and I felt a euphoria like no other. Colours and faces spinned around into incomprehensible smudges and blurs. The last thing on my mind was wondering how Lee, Hinata, and Tenten was doing. I closed my eyes to remain in a nonmoving state of total relaxation. I felt a warm hand on my head when I eventually woke up again.

* * *

.

* * *

Hey guys, Im back to bring out my finale of the preliminaries of the chunin exams. Id like some input as far as what this should be rated as, with all the blood and bad body part situations. I for one have no plan to make any lemon or graphic romantic scenes of any kind. So does that bump it back down to T? Or still M due to cursing and graphic blood ect… anyways,

 _cheers and Reguards! ***snaps like a sass for winning a womanless beauty contest.**_


	14. A badly tied closure

Ch 14

Swirls of colours, swirls of colors, vivid imagination plots, the trance of no thought, no emotion, but most of all, voices. I couldn't see and I couldn't tell who talked to me, nor could I remember what they say. I felt like this for a few hours then I distinguished sentences. _He received an overdose,_ and, _His healing factor is superb,_ has been said quite a lot.

A few more hours passed and I could keep a tally of who was talking in the room: two nurses, a male doctor, Gai, Tenten, and some articulate character… Not at the same time, mostly separate. _Him and Lee must be having a conversation, just look at their breathing._ I heard Gai joke around.

 _Let's initiate bringing him out of the coma, he might be within grasp of the consciousness chart._

 _Check for muscle reflexiveness._

 _Can confirm._

 _Let's bring him in._

Slowly, a snail's pace like pushing a building two inches from it's platform, I gained my senses back. I felt the sweat on my forehead with the bitter taste of plastic in my mouth. I smelled the rubbing alcohol piledrive my nose hairs to disintegration. I heard the breathing of what sounded like two machines and five to six people. I saw black, for my eyelids felt like bricks and refused to open. I lifted my right hand and stretched my fingers, which felt tense like multiple hamstrings. Two hands enclosed itself to mine and I felt no capability of moving it. I lifted my left hand to the tube in my mouth and felt around what was there.

"Take it out." I gargled through the pipe.

"Give us a minute, we have to take this out and you won't be breathing for a moment." A lady said.

I waited as they turned off the ventilahtor for me and I tried to get some more air but the pipe made me unable to.

"Just relax you're doing fine."

I felt the pipe slide out by every inch and kept gagging. It seemed a rather long way for them to put down a tube for me. Eventually I was considering it as one of those clown party gimmicks where they have the infinite handkerchief pullout from the mouth. This felt horrible to its own accord. Eventually, it was pulled out and I took a deep breath of air on my own. It felt so fresh but I coughed hard, like lots of phlegm built up over time.

"How long was I…-"

"Two and a half weeks…" I heard Tenten. "Your cane's by the door idiot."

Her tone went from serious to playful and I was met by a neck hug. I hadn't opened my eyes still and I assumed it was her.

"Where's Gai sensei?"

"He's been… coping."

"And Lee?"

"He's over to the right of you, not as good in condition. Much how you were."

"Did he win?"

"Unfortunately, no." My heart sank to hear that for Lee.

"How's Hinata doing?"

"She's good, though you tore a muscle cleanly through with my tomahawk and she's in a cast for the next month or two."

"So that's what it was…"

"I was expecting you scalping her honestly." We both chuckled at her comment. "I at one point thought the tan skin meant you were a poor swamp native or something, heh."

"Well you got half that right…"

"Wait you are a native?"

"No silly, I'm poor." I joked. "Remember the first few days I came by? My parents had essentially paid my way to get out of my old village for a lot of bullcrap reasons. If I were middle class they'd be with me… right… now." I zoned off with my eyes open, looking at my feet.

 _My parents… my_ _ **real**_ _parents… bless them for they are in a better place now… I miss my whole family so much… Don't cry… Not now, not in front of her._

I turned my head away from her and one tear leaked out of my left eye.

"You miss yours, I understand… It takes a lot to realize how much they give up for you…"

"Hand me the cane." I held out my hand.

"You're fresh out of a coma." Tenten warned, but she threw it to me. "Remember, don't cripple that fool ass of yours."

I lifted from my bed with the cane's assistance and hobbled slowly to the door. My left knee was stronger so the cane helped my right foot more; both of which were weak.

"I got myself." I pushed her assistance away.

I checked myself out of the hospital (illegally) and walked my way to the main tower. I am to speak with the Hokage now that I pulled my fair share of the objective. I had barely gotten past security with ragged clothes (the ones I wore during the 2nd exam) as everyone and their mother had to clear me to go up.

I arrived to find Gai and him watching tapes of the second round. I had a few glimpses, some of Naruto's group, Gaara's group, and eventually, me with the traps near the center.

"I'm still not sure how Orochimaru got past our noses like this… And how about Takamitsu, Gai? Did you know he could do things like this?"

"He's very sloppy, but yes he surprises none of the less. He managed to outclass a main branch Hyuga clan member in hand to hand combat, given his tactics were a little cheap, that boy pulled a house out of his hat."

"His assembly speed and quantity of all these traps though, why I haven't seen as much except shadow clones from Naruto…"

"Speak of the whiz kid himself, glad you're up and walking Takamitsu. What brings you up here this morning?"

"Well sensei, did I win?" I eye smiled.

"You did pass the preliminaries, yes, but you have a long way before you're in any shape to fight in the third exams." Gai said.

"Tell me Takamitsu, how attached are you to your temporary team?" The Hokage flicked his pipe to drop the ashes onto a container.

"I say family. I wouldn't see to them being hurt so I could help it."

"Be it so, I appreciate your care for your assigned team, but I see it you have attached yourself rather quickly, don't you think?" I looked down to my realization. "Being a ninja, emotion can be a foothold for any enemy to take advantage of, be it friendship, family, or love. As from one man to another, be careful who you make friends with, or love. The world's a harsh place, and if you're not too careful, they can cripple your spirit with just the information of your eyes, be the enemy or your fellows."

"Be it a lesson even I can still learn from." Gai said with a hint of melancholy.

"Before you ask about the money, you have in excess, succeeded in the mission I sent for you out to do. Your work was very much appreciated and your check's in the mail. I'll be looking forward in needing your help with other things once you are 100% back in the near future. Don't worry about the medical bill and I got you a job or two in a toolstore nearby your home. Also, there was some outer motives in getting you the job, but you'll find out pretty soon what this job is. You are free to leave. Any questions?"

"Yes, can Gai still be my sensei to train under?" Both their faces lit up in shock.

"Well uhh, I'm not sure how the paperwork will… -hell why not. It makes things easier since you already get along with the team… but then again I… I'm gonna need a minute to think this out Takamitsu. I'll send you a letter in the mail of my final decision… Now you may leave." The indecisive hokage stated.

"Thank you for the opportunities you have given me sir." I bowed and left, being flagged and searched upon my departure.

I walked at a snail's pace home which took about an hour for it was about two miles. I opened the door and found a lot of mail that was shoved underneath. About twenty total.

 **Declined application**

 **Declined application**

 **Energy drink sponsor**

 **Coupon magazine**

 **Alcohol discount**

 **Ramen shop discount from completed review**

 **Letter from the Hokage**

 **Three declined applications**

 **Accepted application to blacksmith and inspect tools at a toolshop -** _This was probably the thing he spoke of._

 **Alcohol adverts**

 **Shaving razor magazine**

 **An unmarked handwritten note.** … _-Interesting_ **...**

And the rest solicitors. I threw away all the declined applications and picked up the blank hand drawn letter. Its contents made me pack my bags, for I had been discovered a phony… I ditched most of my stuff but took the Hokage's check letter with me. The clothes on my back and one of Tenten's tools that I scavenged went with me. I looked outside and in the direction of Kumogakure stood clouds of black with flashings proceeding to approach Konoha. I in the mind of immediate panic had broke down completely when alarms started sounding. Was this a terrible storm on approach? Or could this be… My founder...

 **AAAAAAAAAAAAAND Book one I say is for now complete. I feel as though I needed a stopping point between 25k and 50k words so I'll start Book 2 up momentarily. Thanks for your support and I will no longer follow the Naruto timeline. This is really where things have that butterfly effect as the storyline will change.**

 **War will be made if one man is not found, because I know you cradled that man under your wing. Bring him to me and I shall leave in peace. Disobey and he will be to blame for your village punishments.**


End file.
